
iiiiWMiWMrinwiifiiii'lWWHrivwHfMiWwawwa 



J 




( f \ 






v^>» 









^ ^ 



!!SSS^\!SSS««SSSiSNSS?SS^^^ 




P;'^'%*^'%>'^'%>"S><'S^<^<iS|,«s^'^<sg,<%,<.<^<^^-s^<s^<^r3i 



!! LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



# 



liaij 



*r? 






I UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. | 



COSMOSTORIA 



A Poem. 



Ji 



By JOHN ALBERT MURPHY. 



"3r{)£ ISartfj Slii&ctf) ;!FDrt6jr. "-Bible. 




V 6 3 6, if 



CHICAGO: 

MOSES WARREN, Publisher. 

1S7S. ' . " ■ 






COPYRIGHT. 

1877. 

By j. A. Murphy. 



TO THE 

ITINERANT MINISTRY 

OF THE 

People (JIallcLt " Mctl)0L>ist3 " tljrougljoiit tl)e IHovIli, 

THIS VOLUME 

IS INSCRIBED, IN BROTHERLY LOVE, 

BY ONE OF THEIR NUMBER, 

THE AUTHOR. 



Parf ?irs!. 



ANALYSIS. 

A Summer Su7iset — An Apostrophe to Night — Introductory 
Scene Described — The Body Asleep, the Spirit Enters the Bright 
World to Come — First Impressions — Gtiardiaji Seraph Invites 
to the Wonderful — They Take their Flight. 




COSMOSTORIA. 



PART FIRST. 



BENEATH the shade by leafy network cast, 
Where sighing gales soft fanned the cheek of eve, 
A laving stream danced sparkling waters past. 

Cooled by the air that eagle pinions cleave. 
From hence, away along the eastern sky, 

Where bright Hyperion lights the lamp of day, 
In lofty peaks and pyramids on high, 

A bank of cloud in angry splendor lay, 
Tinged with a golden shade of solar paint, 

Which mellow pencils drew upon its flank; 
Its pitchy skirt in fringe, and scallops faint. 

Dragged on the earth a trail of queenly rank. 



Q COSMOSTORIA. 

Now drove the sun his burning chariot down, 

And weeping skies rained on the lap of earth; 
A rainbow smiled upon the sullen frown, 

As gems adorn the sons of giant birth. 
From waving boughs the evening voices rang; 

The katydid from off the garden rose; 
The firefly joined the evanescent gang. 

And bore its torch o'er nature's soft repose. 
Night, sable goddess, took her ebon throne, 

And o'er the earth her dusky mantle spread 
In noiseless wave, as when the mother lone 

Her gauzy veil thi"ows on her infant's bed. 

Should thoughts of death distract this sacred hour. 

Or destinies awake reflection sad? 
Must somber gloom life's pleasures all devour, 

And seize the fleeting comforts that we had? 
Is sable night a foe, who o'er us throws 

Her star-enameled veil to guard our sleep — 
A foe to us invited to repose 

Upon her balmy lap in slumbers deep? 



COSMOSTORIA. 9 

Why then with her associate all our grief — 

B}' her emblematize all human woe? 
Why make her, then, accomplice to the thief — 

The friend of sin, and crime protection show? 
Not she the mother vile of human ill, 

Nor human evil screens, by justice sought; 
Yet from her presence dark she doth distill 

A sacredness we give to solcnni thought. 
So Isaac felt — the son of promised grace, 

An unborn nation's prince of rising fame, 
In life's vast galaxy he owned a place, 

And on it poured the luster of his name. 
His raven curls in breezy dalliance pkn'ed. 

His step elastic on the flowery field. 
While thoughts of good, in mental balance weighed, 

Assurance gave of bliss in future sealed. 
Submission sweet to wedlock's holv law 

Claimed solitude and balmy eventide; 
And roaming thus, he in the distance saw 

The graceful form assigned his angel bride. 

\ 



lO COSMOSTORIA. 

In modest}' reserved she veiled her face, 

While maiden blushes paint the rose-tint foir; 
From cercmonv free, they now embrace. 

And to their tented home in love repair. 
Cerawed by night, the ancient shepherds, too, 

To sober thought their leisure moments gave — 
A Avreath of wisdom wove of fiideless hue, 

And hung it high for those who knowledge crave. 
The spire of grass nipped by their tinkling fold, 

The honeyed bloom inwrought on velvet sod. 
Served to conduct their minds, in rajotures bold. 

Upward from nature unto nature's God. 
Inured to risk, to danger oft exposed, 

'Twas thus of old that Jesse's shepherd son 
Obtained his help, the doubtful conflict closed. 

His foe subdued and royal honors won; 
As though a tender lamb, in combat dire, 

Should bow the lion's head in deep disgrace. 
And on his body huge should stand entire, 

And stamp the fallen monster in the face. 



COSMOSTORIA. II 

'Twas not Cimmeria's land, where poj^pies grow, 

And darkness dense and drear is day and night; 
Where Somnus hes upon the ground below. 

The lion hugs, and holds inverted light. 
Nor yet that region black of S2Dirits lost, 

Where deadly upas lives, and poisoned air, 
x'Vnd death and hell unchained in turn are tossed. 

And furies clothed in flames howl keen despair. 
But graves were there, sad city of the dead. 

Enclosed by rugged wall of shapeless stone; 
The native oak reared there its lofty head. 

And night birds sang a requiem alone. 
Like ghosts in white, one-half to sight revealed. 

The other half low hid in fragrant bloom; 
So marble gleamed, by wind and weather peeled. 

To mark the place of many a lowly tomb. 

'Twas here, from labor free, I sank to sleep; 

That ominous bird, the plaintive whippoorwill. 
Last to my heavy ear did mourn and weep, 

And with his wail the echoing valleys fill. 



13 COSMOSTORIA. 

As dies the wave along the peaceful shore, 

When holy calm holds storm and billow bound; 
As distant thunders grow in grandeur more, 

When sinking back bej^ond the blue profound; 
So, off from consciousness, the world retired, 

I lay alone; how long, unknown to me. 
But all was light within; the soul, inspired, 

Communed with worlds beyond in ecstasy. 
Light shone around that set the world aglow, 

And turned events in panoramic view; 
The history of time passed by me so, 

I saw things made, then all things made anew. 

High reaching to the throne, O wondrous height! 

Eternity's grand arch! Expanse sublime! 
Swift-winged through viewless space, the seraph's flight 

Ranged upward through the bright celestial clime. 
A pathway gilt with light and gorgeous hues. 

Whose length in variegated beauty runs, 
Mirrored as when the crystal stream renews 

The burning luster of ten thousand suns. 



COSMOSTORIA. 

Sweet cadences of distant angel choirs, 

Whose fuller chords eternal shores resound, 
Strayed wandering forth like stranger comet fires, 

And, lingering long, filled all the vast profound. 
Returning strains, woke in the conscious realm. 

By touching skillfully the harp of soul. 
Breathed softest choral notes to overwhelm. 

With magic chr-m, the one unhounded whole. 
Millions of gleaming wings of snowy plume 

In friendly groups convened, or bathed in light; 
Or, spread o'er heavenly fields of sweet perfume, 

Regaled the day to universal sight: 
As when the peaceful stars, far, far away, 

Reflect their image fiiir upon the deep. 
And gem both lake and sky in bright array. 

While hidden suns their nightl}^ vigils keep 
Archangels thus with ahgels led the van. 

And cherubim burned in the dizzy flight; 
Lo! seraphs bright elysian zephyrs fan. 

And proud dominions scale the wondrous height. 



H 



COSMOSTORIA. 



Like marshaled hosts of flame on dress parade, 
'Mid dazzhng worlds and systems undescried, 

They sped their way, a heavenly cavalcade. 
And circling round infinity supplied. 

"Hail! sister spirit, hail! Behold thy home! 

Thou nursling from the storm, approach thee near! 
Star of eternal skies! Speed vipward, come! 

Thou heir of hoj^e, disdain thy former fear! 
Claim now thine own, possess thy Savior's joy, 

Thou child of fame and immortality! 
Thy destiny behold — thy loved employ! 

Thy Father's House, its many mansions, see!" 

So cried a flame of fire, for thus it seemed, 

As guardian seraph spoke in sparkling rays — 
So like the Midian bush, that burning gleamed. 

Yet unconsumed amid the curling blaze, 
A tongue of fire — the dialect divine, 

Whose heavenly speech no Babel had confused — 
My listening spirit heard, embraced the sign, 

And took to flight as from its body loosed. 



pHPf j5pron5^ 



ANALYSIS. 

Invocation — Guiding Serafh Refers to the Flight from Earth 
to Mars — Mars Described — Theme and Place Stated — Time and 
Existence — Earth — Her First Inhabitants — The Morning Stars. 




PART SECOND. 



COME, heavenly Tvluse! swift to my succor come; 
Prepare me for this wonder-land of song: 
Aid me to sing, in this bright spirit home, 

Angelic airs that sweetly float along; 
Touch with thy magic wand my spirit lyre, 

Its richest chords in diapason sway; 
Attune its noblest notes to pcans higher, 

To hail the dawn of an eternal day. 
From off thy mountain throne 'neath summer sky, 

Fair child of Jupiter, bec^ueath a song; 
To lips untaught this art thy flute apply. 

To join the praises of this wondrous throng. 
Like to the ancient bards thy favor show, 

Till Helicon resound with sacred truth, 

2 



iS COSMOSTORIA. 

And spirits pure love's labyrinth shall know, 

And, laurel-crowned, dwell in immortal youth. 

"Hark, child of earth! thy distant native lands, 

Thine oceans broad, with busy commerce white, 
Thy fields of summer green and burning sands, — 

Shine as a star upon the brow of night: 
So to thy dazzled eye this mansion shone. 

When once on earth thy soul did starward gaze. 
As, on the nightly blue, lights one by one 

Came forth to smile and through their orbits blaze." 

So spake my seraph guide, as wonders rose, 

By harp vmsung, unseen by mortal eye; 
His speech pursvied, the hidden to disclose. 

And all the shoreless seas of truth descry. 
Uncursed by sin and death's despotic reign. 

Dread pestilence unheard and cruel wars — 
No blasting evil spread nor deadly pain 

Invades, perchance, this heavenly mansion. Mars. 
Lo! these red banks, washed by the limpid stream, 

By laurel fringed, and never fading flowers, 



COSMOSTORIA. I9 

With gold and precious stones forever gleam, 

Beneath the shades of fresh and fragrant bowers. 
The atmosjDheric sheens, this land o'erspread. 

Unlike the arch of earth's expansive blue. 
Combine the sunrise blush with sardine red. 

And tinge the landscape wide with ruby hue. 
Proud birds of paradise, by nature bold, 

Flit through these heavenly groves in tireless flight;, 
Their silver wings and plumes of shining gold 

Dart splendors down from off their flowery height. 
Their strains, inspired, in concert far and near. 

Like holy bands pour forth immortal lays; 
•They greet the day^ and nature's God revere, 

And fill this sinless clime with sounding praise. 
Here nature weaves her gay and virgin robe. 

And from her queenly throne her gifts bestows; 
Her wonder sights begirt this heavenly globe. 

And all her treasured wealth her charms disclose. 
In amber clouds along the peaceful sky. 

Or when they weep upon the thirsty plain, 



20 COSMOSTORIA. 

Or, lured away, on whispering breezes fly, 

Her glories smile, and blushing beauties reign. 

To search for truth, and God and nature know, 
To contemplate the past and future store. 

Eternity and time, and sin and woe, 

Embrace the theme, with life forever more. 

Yea, and redeeming love, and endless bliss. 
And destiny, intrude among the rest. 

O, sacred task! The wondrous theme be this; 

; The place to sing, this mansion of the blest. 

Age of the ancient age! Hoar monarch Time! 

Born when first moved the all-creative rod: 
Till this undated morn the years sublime 

Were lost in the eternity of God. 
This av/ful depth, unfanned by angel wing. 

Beyond the natal cry of infant time. 
Dates that "Beginning" when omnific spring 

First moved the nothingness of empty clime. 
Existence is to consciousness brought home. 

Always it must have been, as truth behooves; 



COSMOSTORIA. ^,-, 21 

Since something out of nothing cannot come, 

Existence now existence always proves. 
Now, matter is inert — thus resting, rests, 

Or moving, moves, by property its own, 
Nor doth inhere a law that it invests 

With power to change its state when left alone. 
Creative force by none can be denied. 

In acts unsjDent, in universal reign : 
In matter thus, this force doth not reside. 

And must be sought u^oon a higher plane. 

Eternity! The life of God is meant! 

Mind Infinite! Of motion, Cause sublime! 
Great Spirit Source of energies unspent! 

What wondrous depths beyond the birth of time! 
Time is eternity to things create, 

To all derived existence hence applied; 
Duration fixed and measured off by date. 

To suit the march of the creative tide. 
To blazing suns, to stag's that ever roll. 

Revolving worlds, and systems undescried, 



22 COSMOSTORIA. 

The universe of mind, tlie boundless wliole — 

Time lives to all, and ever must abide. 
Like a stupendous clock all nature stands. 

And rolling spheres upon the distant sky, 
As on her figured face, turn like the hands 

To mark the jDassing moments as they fly. 
By mind ungrasped, the uncomputed years, 

Since the beginning was, this clock has told; 
So distant, that the wing an angel bears 

Would reach It not through years a thousandfold. 

Twin offspring struggling. In creation's womb. 

Young Time and Nature vie the right of birth. 
Till equal-born to blush In youthful bloom, 

When the Creator made the heavens and earth. 
Then first the morning stars together sang. 

The sons of God rejoiced to listening ears 
As wider far the song through nature rang. 

And blended with the music of the spheres. 
In rank of marching worlds earth took her place. 

And to Indemnify contingent loss, 



COSMOSTORIA. 



23 



While atmospheric bkie thus veiled her face, 
Upon her jeweled breast she wore a Cross. 

Twice cursed by sin and death's devouring j^^i^^s; 
Twice caused to weejD her children's fading charms; 

One order doomed, reserved in darkness' chains. 
Another, dead, lie hugged within her arms. 

Bright morning stars, the firstborn sons of light. 

Next to the Throne Supreme, descent divine! 
First to possess the earth by native right. 

And thus fulfill the Maker's prime design: 
Chief excellence to know and God adore, 

And on creation dwell with holy joy, 
In endless progress rising more and more. 

Their peerless spirits vie in rapt employ. 
In being's chain a link by nature true, 

A finished light of love's immortal fire. 
Each morning star than God no parent knew; 

No child to imitate its holy sire; 
No wooing words of love, in courtship sweet. 

The ear of Cupid caught on evening gales; 



24 COSMOSTORIA. 

No marriage bells, the bridal morn to greet, 

Rang through the spicy groves and echoing vales j 
As star to star, so each to other stood : 

Parental bonds unknown and filial ties; 
A commune pure, in which the highest good 

Conserved the realm by law suj^remely wise. 
As differs star from star by sheen o'erspread, 

So rank shone through the host from great to small. 
And glowed in fire upon their peerless head, 

Grand Autocrat and starlike chief of all. 




perf ^|ip&* 



ANALYSIS. 

Government^ Physical and Moral — Antc-Hunian Age — First 
Paradise, or Earth as Inhabited by the Morning Stars — The 
First Sin — //.■; Immediate Effects — Morning Stars Irredeemable 
— Satan's Sfccch — Preparation Jor the Con fief — Michael comes 
to Reinforce the Morning Stars that did not Follo-v Satan in 
the Transgression — Michael Destroys the Earth — First Great 
Conflict — Satan Va7iqnished — Satan and his Hosts Consigned to 
a Place Prepared. 




PART THIRD. 



BY laws immutable, one Sovereign Will 
The realm of matter rules by fixed control- 
A single drop, the floods that ocean fill, 

A rolling world, the universal whole. 
All motion springs from will — self-acting cause, 

Just as by will ap2Dlied a watch keeps time; 
Will, matter rules by universal laws. 

As secondary force — the will, the prime. 
The world of mind mounts up on higher planes, 

The Sovereign's will the subject's too involves; 
In harmony eternal virtue reigns. 

The law of bliss and life's deep problem solves. 
Vice possible, and virtue then may be; 

The heights of bliss expose the depths of woe: 



28 COSMOSTORIA. 

Love here is law, not force; the subjects, free 

To summer far on high or sink below. 
God reigns o'er all — theocracy sublime! 

In all the Father's House one law obtains; 
In every mansion bright and sinless clime, 

Omnific love eternal life ordains. 
Thus sinless earth, grasped by the wondrous plan, 

In trembling stood on time's eventful stage. 
From the beginning till the birth of man. 

Embraced within the ante-human age. 

Bright morning stars possessed the mansion fair, 

A land unknown to sin or death's dismay. 
Its stores were theirs, its treasures all to share; 

While holy raptures thrilled the heart of day. 
Ambrosial fruits they ate, from pendant boughs. 

And culled the roses of immortal youth; 
Love's wreath they wove, begemmed with holy vows. 

And drank the sparkling fount of sacred truth. 
At blush of morn, their songs divinely rose, 

As choir to choir rehearsed their Maker's praise; 



COSMOSTORIA. 29 

Then dreaming nature woke from sweet rejDOse, 
And, joining notes, returned the joyful lays. 

Things glorious, by mortal eye unseen, 

By ear unheard, which heart could ne'er conceive, 

With lavish wealth smiled o'er the golden sheen, 
Serene as sunset glow on sabbath eve. 

Their starlike Chief, Archangel to the rest. 

Than whom none higher sat of all the host. 
Dominion held by right, that none dare test; 

Such sceptered might no other star could boast. 
Each in his place a willing service gave. 

Of all the countless armies of the land: 
No ill had they to dread, no good to crave, 

For all was singly merged in his command. 

As lightning from the summer dropping cloud 
Darts to the earth in momentary glare; 

As darkness comes departed day to shroud, 
And hide it In the tomb of night's despair; 
, So fell the Autocrat, bright Morning Star, 

As thunders pealed the torture of his pains ; 



30 COSMOSTORIA. 

So pitchy clouds, encircling from afar, 

Forever bound him fast in darkness' chains. 
As when a child beholds the lightning's flash, 

And trembling with alarm conceals its face; 
Or, fleeing from the dreaded thunder's crash. 

Seeks fancied refuge in some covert place; 
So subject morning stars, at first alarm, 

Fled the changed presence of their mighty Chief; 
Till then they had not known approaching harm. 

Or once conceived the need of such relief. 
To mountain peaks some took their speedy flight. 

And some to groves where music had been hushed; 
Some hid in caves where once they took delight. 

And sighed as if their spirits had been crushed. 
An awful silence reigned — suspense of song — 

Nor tongues nor hands to heed love's least demand; 
All nature wore a consciousness of wrong. 

And rayless darkness settled o'er the land. 

Example is infectious — sin will spread; 

Influence lends the wings to aid its fliarht: 



COSMOSTORIA. 3! 

Thus evil, from the influential head, 

Soon bound one-third the stars in chains of night. 
They left their first estate in truth begun — 

First fountainhead where sin's dark stream arose. 
Its infinite and widening course to run, 

Till emptied in the pit of endless woes. 
Forever doomed, the state of trial past, 

By sin confirmed in midnight's darkness rife; 
Like souls of men in outer darkness cast, 

Who prove unworthy of eternal life. 
For each who fell, as for the race of man, 

Stern justice would have asked atonement done; 
For finished work was each in nature's plan, 

Just as the human race is counted one. 
They each by nature had a trial fair; 

And by redemption's plan, the human race 
Like trial is ordained through life to share — 

They tried by nature's test, and man by grace. 

The moral conflict waged and war declared, 

Their eyes like globes of fire peered thro' the night; 



33 COSMOSTORIA. 

They clanked their burnished steel, as if j^i'epared 

To crown their arms with chivalry of might. 
With change of state there came a change of name, 

And Morning Star to Satan now gave place: 
His fiery minions felt and owned the same, 

And bore an equal jDart of his disgrace. 
A dreadful voice, as though the thunders spoke, 

Resounded far and echoed overhead. 
To fill the earth, the air and ether choke, 

With clouds of angels' wings, as Satan said: 

"Ye bannered hosts, prime dwellers on the earth. 

My voice in counsel hear, I now entreat; 
Remember whence you came, your noble birth — 

None higher know — and never know defeat. 
Lay deep your plans and keep them well concealed; 

Act once, but once, and let that always be; 
To none the palm of perseverance yield; 

Yourselves disguise that none your presence see: 
Eternal vigilance your cause requires. 

That every force may yield to your employ — 



COSMOSTORIA. 



•33 



Your place to execute my full desires, 

Your work to tempt to sin and then destroy. 

Decoy the strong, the weaker ones embrace; 
In none confide; to execute make haste; 

Spread desolation's wing through boundless space. 
And rule at will a universe laid waste." 

His fiery eye, as like the lightning's glare, 

Turned to the sun and with excitement danced: 
Then lambent tongues cross-licked the darkened air, 

And myriad voices cried as he advanced. 
As the proud eagle leaves his rocking perch. 

To cleave the air and roam his native sky. 
So shook the earth, as Satan rose to search 

Approaching lines and foreign hosts descry. 

"Behold, they come!" his voice like thunder cried. 
And tr.amping columns moved and pinions clashed, 

And earth and sea, and sky and nature wide. 

Revealed the hosts to sight as lightnings flashed. 

The battle-cry of woe roared deep and loud. 

Along the dark-winged lines from j^ole to pole; 
3 



34 COSMOSTORIA. 

And stormy winds drove on the chariot cloud, 

While nature groaned in bitterness of soul. 
Their horrid breath, with blue and sulphur fired, 

In darkness gleamed like circling meteor's light j 
A sullen frown with menaces conspired , 

To spread despair and fill the world with fright. 
Great walls of cloud piled up for their defense, 

Till deep-laid hellish plans naught more could bring; 
The fatal moment came; in dread suspense 

They poised aloft and hung on tempest wing. 

Grand Michael now appeared with sunlike mien. 

And silvery stars glowed in his radiant crown; 
A rainbow glittered on his amber sheen, 

As sungilt chariot clouds drove earthward down. 
His cohorts burned like comets through the sky. 

And em^^yrean plains flanked in their course; 
They came, a marshaled host from mansions high, 

Unfallen morning stars to reinforce. 
The two-edged sword they bore, and burnished shield, 

And all the panoply of God complete; 



COSMOSTORIA. 35 

On anxious wing they paused to take the field, 
And drive their mighty foe in full retreat. 

Sweet martial music piped from host to host, 
Commingled with the roar of thimders loud. 

And, echoing far around from coast to coast. 

Sang like ^olian strains through harps of cloud. 

Then came a sudden crash, and devils screamed, 

And louder still the deafening thunders rolled; 
Upon the dismal night the lightnings gleamed. 

And played upon the brow of heroes bold. 
Wide open to the core earth burst in twain. 

And tossed in air her magazines of fire; 
The raging tempest swept the burning main, 

And wrapped in spiry flames her funeral pyre. 
With panic seized, the ocean left hey bed. 

And rolled in billows mad from pole to pole; 
The earthquake's shock the desolation spread. 

And mountains plunged the dark dissolving whole; 
Black pyramids of smoke by storm-wings wrung. 

Joined with the lowering clouds in vengeful ire; 



36 COSMOSTORIA. 

Till ruined earth in shapeless chaos hung, 
"'Mid upper, nether, and surrounding fire." 

Above chaotic earth by sin destroyed. 

On airy plains the angel battle raged: 
Michael and Satan fought, their hosts employed, 

And all their deadly armory engaged. 
As Satan saw his earthly home in flame. 

And heard the distant roar and wail of doom, 
In wrath he fought to hold his native claim 

And save himself from everlasting gloom. 
So then — as on that well-remembered night. 

When meteors flashed thro' heaven in grand array, 
In airy lines, and crossed in martial might. 

And wildly swarmed before the gates of day — 
Like coruscations grand the conflict waged. 

As angels sped along their starry path. 
And rustling wings and clashing arms engaged, 

To execute the claims of righteous wrath. 
As by the driving storm the forests tall. 

Wrung by resistless force the compass round, 



COSMOSTORIA. J^ 

And interlocked in wild confusion fall. 

And pile in tangled heaps upon the ground; 

So bowed the haughty hosts and Prince of Night, 
By numbers flanked and every part assailed; 

While valiant shouts proclaimed victorious might, 
Resounding when the sons of God prevailed! 

The battle won, the die forever cast, 

The chains of darkness fast, now faster drew; 
While o'er them hung eternal midnight's blast. 

And darts of keen despair pierced through and 
through. 
At Michael's bold command in holy ire. 

The sons of God none of the vanquished spared. 
But thrust them into everlasting fire. 

For Satan and his angels now prepared. 



"JParf ?ourf5. 



ANALYSIS. 

The Father's House, the /nfiiite Universe — The Many Man- 
sions, the A'limcrous Worlds of '^vhich it is Composed — The Lazv 
of Life over Gravitation^ a Condition of the Future State — 
Michael's Triuinfhant Return to other Mansions, with the Morn- 
ing Stars that Fell not — Earth left ^^ Without Form, and Void.'''' 




PART FOURTH, 



IN the Great Father's House, the reahn subhme, 
The mighty universe of sunbright hinds, 
Are many mansions fair, unmarred by time, 

Where cruel sin ne'er thrusts des23oihng hands. 
In systems vast, those distant worlds on high, 

Whose light has not yet reached, since time began, 
The mighty range of telescopic e_ye. 

Are mansions in the House of heavenly plan. 
In solar realm or distant milky way. 

Sidereal plains or azure depths afar, 
Bright mansions roll throughout eternal day, 

From burninsf sun to undiscovered star. 



43 COSMOSTORIA. 

In all this glorious House life's ruling law 

O'er gravitation holds superior sway. 
The blest inhabitants at will withdraw, 

And visit shining mansions far away; 
From world to world, advancing evermore, 

Approach the Infinite with rapt delight. 
Employ eternal years, and God adore. 

And eager contemplate the wondrous sight. 
They will .to move, and gravitation yields; 

With thoughtlike speed, by distance undeterred, 
Each evolution mounts to grander fields. 

From room to room in the great House transferred. 

From earth destroyed, a mansion once so fair. 

To sinless climes, great Michael led the flight; 
Unfallcn morning stars glanced through the air. 

And joined the hosts returning from the fight. 
TriumjDhant host! to native skies returned, 

They hailed with joyful song their happy home; 
Immortal fame they shared, by service earned, 

And heard the welcome shout, " They come i they 

mr"n<=> ' " 



COSMOSTORIA. 43 

The groves their spices lent, and gold the mine, 

Their triumph to enrich to wildering view; 
Rare beauties graced their victory divine. 

And costly gems displayed the rainbow hue. 
Their star-paved path through many mansions led, 

And throngs renewed the victors' high renown; 
First battle won, prophetic luster shed; 

Its heroes reckoned worthy of a crown. 
From joyous harp and tongue, enrajotured song 

Rang forth in jDraise, and wasted on the plains; 
The freighted winds the music bore along, 

And ebbing gales returned the choral strains; 
"All glory be to God, whose mighty name 

Hath gotten Him the victory, again! 
His worthy praise His wondrous works proclaim! 

All Alleluia cry. Amen! Amen!" 

Lone world, accursed to wild chaotic waste. 

In darkness gloomed, not having form, and void, 

Its paradisic beauty all effaced — 

First monument of wrath, a world destroyed. 



44 COSMOSTORIA. 

Once happy family, the morning stars, 

To all eternity divided now; 
Fixed gulf, impassable, forever bars 

Reunion, which their natures disallow. 

Hast thou not seen that melancholy spot, 

Where fallen walls in utter ruin lie — 
Where moss-grown roofs and broken pillars rot, 

While o'er the scene the dismal night winds sigh? 
Unearthly spooks there take their stealthy walk. 

Or circling dance at night's awe-freighted noon; 
Perched at a distance round, owls nightly talk. 

To haunt the place and mock the shimmering moon. 
Deserted home! there once the merry Irugh 

Of happy souls rang through the spacious halls, 
And halcyon angels kept on their behalf 

Extended wing to serve dependent calls. 
There once with trusting hearts the bridal pair 

Drank at the fountainhead of nuptial bliss. 
There romping children played till evening prayer, 

Then with their " erood-nierht" s^ave the nectar kiss. 



COSMOSTORIA. 45 

There modest pansier grew upon the lawn, 

Kissed by the butterflies of golden wing. 
And warbling birds there hailed the waking dawn, 

And made the groves with untaught praises ring. 
From blushing rose to honeysuckle sweet, 

The humming-bird buzzed like an arrow shot; 
The humble-bee, with pollen-freighted feet, 

Hid there in hollyhock and touch-me-not. 
There once the lordly cock, with clarion sound, 

Responsive challenge gave to kindred breed; 
And well-grazed herds came there, their nightly round, 

While at the gate oft stood the tramping steed. 
Queen Happiness there once her scepter swayed, 

And blessings by her came like children born; 
Eternal wealth of love her hands displayed. 

And life and bliss bestowed from morn to morn. 

Forever gone! the loss, how sadly keen; 

For good once lost is worse than ne'er possessed: 
What is, compared with what it might have been. 

Oft darts the sharpest pang through souls distressed. 



46 



COSMOSTORIA. 



Just SO the earth, once beautiful and bright, 
A paradise of Hfe since time began; 

Then cursed by sin to emptiness of night, 
Within the age beyond the birth of man. 




farf fmi 



ANALYSIS. 

Light — Atmosphere — Earth Reconstructed fro7n the Curse of 
the Ante-Hu)na7i Age — Man the Second Order of Earth's Inhab- 
itants — Virtue^ Absolute and Co7tJirtned — Virtue not the Object 
of Physical Poxver — Man a Free Moral Agent — His Dignity — 
Adatn's Dream of Beautiful Woma7i a Reality — First Sunrise 
in Eden — Ey Mind Illu7ni7iatio7i they See the Invisible — God''s 
Presence. 




PART FIFTH. 



HAIL, holy light! Resplendent dawn, all hail! 
Of parent Source from whom no shadows fall; 
All gorgeous sheen that mansions doth regale, 

The Father's House illume and every hall. 
Lo! trembling now eternal stillness broke, 

When from the grand arcana of His might, 
The voice of God in awful grandeur spoke. 

And far and near proclaimed, " Let there be light!" 
First dawn of hope on earth, so dark and chill. 

When light streamed forth on heavenly mission sent. 
To raise the curse, the empty world refill, 

And with its charms the ruin circumvent. 
An atmosphere ensued, and land appeared, 

And fa-mament, by universal laws, 



^O COSMOSTORIA. 

To waters gave their bounds, and mountains reared, 

As fast pursued the reconstructing Cause. 
Reclaimed from Satan's curse, from sin restrained, 

Prepared for Hfe to grow and mind to dwell, 
Earth warmed again, a j^'^i'^dise regained, 

More glorious than the first where Satan fell. 
From very naught below immortal mind. 

By nature's law the chain of being grew; 
And rising orders sprang, by force inclined, 

To planes above, evolving something new. 

Immortal man, lord of creation born. 

Sole sovereign of the reconstructed earth! 
For him its wealth unfolds, its gems adorn, 

And all its good descends to him by birth. 
The greatest wonder of creation, man, 

Of mother earth a child, a son of God, 
A microcosmic part in being's plan. 

Bequeathed a home by alien feet untrod. 
The Triune council, called when first began 

The scheme to reinhabit earth so fair, 



COSMOSTORIA. ^I 

In Godlike wisdom said, '"Let us make man!' 
And let him evermore our image bear. 

Like us in nature, let him rule the land, 
Li righteousness and holiness combined 

Let him abide, and dwell in love's command; 
God absolute, and man by bounds confined." 

One only Absolute, all else above. 

Whose good is infinite — vice cannot be — 
No evil there invades eternal love, 

Nor mars the perfect bliss, from suffering free. 
Descending next is virtue well confirmed, 

Impossible to sin as vSatan fell; 
Since trial-proved, and by volition germed, 

Probation past, in bliss they safely dwell. 
Unfollen stars, made pure, willed to remain; 

Each act imparting strength till sealed at last, 
Sin possible no more, nor error's stain; 

That once they could have sinned forever past. 
As qualities of acts both good and sin. 

From ample knowledge sjDring, and will and power, 



52 COSMOSTORIA. ' 

One cannot be, might other not have been, 

As sweetness dwells within the poison flower? 
Force physical hath ample bounds assigned; 

What man can do an angel can do more. 
Omnipotence effects what God designed — 

The huge volcano's mouth or ocean shore. 
The nightingale's sweet song, the seraph's flight, 

The blooming rose, the blue and starry plane - 
All things produced by His creative might, 

From gorgeous universe to tiny grain. 
Thus virtue never is produced by force. 

Nor' yet transferred at will from God to man: 
By nature pure, man took his willing course 

A character to make, which choice began. 
Not human strength, nor stronger ones on high, 

Nor God Himself, can force the human will; 
Man's free, made so, may sin, and sinning die, 

And dying, bound, is free in bondage still. 
Of highest moral caste, man took his place 

To be a sub-creator under God — 



COSMOSTORIA. 

Repeople earth with an immortal race, 

And rule at will all things on sea and sod; 

To be a finite god in oneness bound 

With God, as IMan — the Infinite above; 

To reign in bliss through the eternal round, 
And, dwelling in each other, dwell in love. 

Behold reclining man, whom angels guard 

In soft repose! for pure immortals sleep; 
His prostrate form upon the downy sward 

From God unconscious lay in slumbers deep. 
To pleasing dreamland, where the fairies dwell, 

His spirit passed, to bask in golden beams, 
That friendly spirits might to him foretell 

His greatest fortune, sent in pleasant dreams. 
He saw — O wondrous sight! unseen before — 

An image of himself in grace arise. 
Of finer mold by far, and beauty more. 

Whom he in love received with rapt surprise. 
Pure angels with inquiring wonder gazed 

On beauteous woman, late by heaven prized, 



53 



54 COSMOSTORIA. 

When first they saw — and by their sight amazed — 

The beautiful by God ideaHzed 
In loveHness that did all else excel, 

Most exquisite of nature's gifts refined, 
On whom from heaven rich clustering virt-ues fell, 

And with their sweetness rare her brow entwined. 
Naught to compare are roses on the lea, 

Nor in the valley wide the lily white; 
Aurora's charms, nor gems from land and sea. 

Nor nature's wealth, could furnish such delight. 

The smiling dreamer heard a bridal strain, 

Far off at first, and then approaching near; 
It rang aloft, and filled in sweet refrain. 

With melodies of love, his listening ear. 
In reveries of bliss the nuptial chord 

Beguiled his nature's want, now satisfied. 
To that fair beauty he was chosen lord, 

And she to him assigned, his loving bride. 
His manly nature thrilled with pleasures new, 

And, bathed in bliss before her yielding charms^ 



COSMOSTORIA. 55 

Love's nectar streams ran all his being through, 
As gently she reposed within his arms — 

No higher boon to give, nor he receive. 

Naught half so sweet, nor blooms of lovelier hue: 

In ecstasy he called her livings Eve, 

And woke — it was no dream; he found it true. 

O matchless dawn! along the orient 

Aurora marched in flowing saffron robe, 
And dewdrops wept adown the firmament 

Like trickling tears that sparkle on the globe. 
Her rose-hued fingers touched the gates of light. 

And, breathing balmy gales of fragrant dawn. 
Her throne ascending high, she loomed in sight. 

And smiled in sunshine bright o'er land and lawn. 
At first drear darkness hid in lowest vales. 

Nor staying here, sped to the distant west; 
The sable goddess winged on fleeting gales. 

To fading sunset bound the star-crowned guest. 
The infant day, born from the womb of morn, 

In spices rocked, and nursed by rosy light, 



56 COSMOSTORIA. 

Now uttered cries through nature's breathing-horn, 
To sound the fast retreat of vanquished niglit. 

The sun's bright portals flew ajar and wide, 

And streams of golden rays flowed widely down 

Then royal day strode forth with sceptered pride, 
Till queenly evening came with starry crown. 

First svnirise thus in lovely Eden spread 

On all the j^rospect wide a glimmering sheen; 
Awe-struck with new surprise, the parent head 

Beheld with watchful eye the opening scene. 
The fresh enchantment now to wildering view. 

Like odor breath, through grove and garden stole,. 
While zephyr lips bathed up the pearly dew. 

And gently kissed the nectar-breathing whole. 
The bow of peace by busy angels seen — 

A jewel worn in all tlie House of God — 
An iris cast upo-n the velvet green, 

And tinged with heavenly shade the virgin sod. 
Its hallowed light awoke the pleasing smile, 

Or settled on their brow the radiant srlow — 



COSMOSTORIA. 57 

Delightsome life of pure celestial style, 

A boon the wealth of love could well bestow. 

Behold, within the temple of their breast, 

Emotions came like worshipers to praise! 
Thus admiration pure, and all the rest. 

Hailed light divine, and wondered at His ways. 
IMade first with an illuminated mind, 

From them no veil the spirit realm concealed; 
The near invisible in brightness shined. 

Where God and angels walk the glistening field. 
Like as in after years, when Dothan swarmed 

With fiery horses bold and chariot flame, 
IMillions of spirits j^m'c, in armies formed. 

Thronged earth and air to serve the wondrous Name. 
The thin, transjDarcnt veil, two worlds between. 

Near which, till now, pure angel feet had trod, 
The Eden pair approached with hallowed mien, 
As by His will the pure in heart see God. 

As then, so now, God is in every place; 

In day and night, and all that life betides. 



58 COSMOSTORIA. 

His presence fills immensity of space, 

And equal in His heavenly House resides. 
The uncreated Mind pervades the whole, 

Thus vitalizes law and lives in force — 
To body motion gives, to life the soul; 

Low murmurs in the brook, and guides its course; 
In the archangel sings, and wings his flight; 

To stars their luster yields, and stays their bounds; 
The valley clothes, and bleaks the mountain's height; 

In ocean roars, and in the hollow sounds; 
In grand Vesuvius burns; chills arctic snow; 

Sahara fires, and paints Arabian bloom; 
The tropic warms, and makes the diamond glow; 

Smiles on life's weary path, and lights the tomb. 



fflpf $irfl 



ANALYSIS. 

Noonday in Eden — Rest under the Almond Tree — Adam Falls 
into the Arms of Sleep — -Eve Goes to the River that Watered the 
Garden — The Palm Tree — The Scene — She Sleeps under the 
Enchantvient — Adam, Aroused, Statids near her in a Revery — 
His Soliloquy — They Seek their Nightly Bovver — Prayer. 




PART SIXTH. 



T 



WAS brilliant noon, the first by man foregone, 
As now disclosed and seen by human eyes; 
Till then such zenith rays, such matchless dawn, 

Had never filled the land nor swept the skies. 
A lonely stillness reigned — no fanning breeze, 

No trembling bough nor swell of nature's song; 
A holy calm, enthroned amongst the trees, 

Beguiled to noonday rest the active throng. 
Decadence sweet, as when from martial band 

Full music dies away to breathings low, 
Where valiant armies march at quick command, 

And thus pursue their fast-retreating foe. 
So, sweetly lulled to momentary rest, 

Surroundinsf nature donned her balmiest charms; 



62 COSMOSTORIA. 

Like harmless birds snug in their little nest, 
Or smiling babe safe in its mother's arms. 

' T was here, beneath the whitened almond shade. 

Where incense-freighted air perfumed the sward, 
That reveries of bliss, by love displayed, 

Engaged anew the heart of Eden's lord. 
For woman, now so beautiful and pure, 

In heavenly pastime drew close by his side; 
Her gentle touch divine began to lure 

To higher bliss, which angels are denied. 
Now angel eyes gazed on the loving pair. 

As with a look akin to bliss above; 
A wish subdued, their actions seemed to wear. 

That they might once enjoy pure woman's lov.e. 

Sly Morpheus, unseen, with noiseless tread, 

Behind the rose and through the thicket crept; 

Charmed by his lulling touch, on flowery bed 
The lord of Eden lay, and calmly slept. 

Strange visitors, so late from distant worlds, [bough, 
Thronged thick the plain and filled the almond 



COSMOSTORIA. 6^ 

As beauteous woman rose, with auburn curls, 

And orange blossoms wreathed upon her brow. 
She gathered fruits and flowers rare above, 

And at her feet, as of her heart's accord. 
Her eyes with dallying look oft danced with love, 

And oft gazed backward on her sleej^ing lord. 
With leisvu-e step, adown the glimmering lawn — 

Her heart inspired to love, and mind to think — 
She took her way, by wooing angel drawn. 

Through laurel clumps that fringed the river's brink. 

Beneath a stately palm, whose cooling shade 

A strong enticement gave to soothing rest, 
She soft reclined, as flowing tresses swayed 

About her shoulders fair and on her breast. 
The crystal river laved her feet that day, 

And in its bosom clear her picture drew; 
While waterlilies drank the rising spray, 

And rich enchantment lent the pleasing view. 

Magnolias whitened thick the farther shore, 
And hyacinths like jewels clothed the hill; 



64 COSMOSTORIA. 

Proud birds of Paradise, whose plumage wore 
A splendor shine, oft dipped the threaded rill; 

The modest violet low, and lofty tree, 

As if by nature strung to constant tune. 

Sang to the gauze-winged touch of humming bee, 
As now on some sweet-scented morn in June. 

Enamored by the scene, pure Eden's prize 

The Maker praised and sank to sweet repose. 
As then o'erspread with curls her azure eyes 

Retired as soft as shutting flowers close. 
Like wavelets rising on the peaceful lake. 

O'er that fair beauty played the hopeful smile, 
As though some angel did her spirit take 

To see life's path and sketch its dim profile. 

From slumbers roused, the lord of Paradise 

Went forth to seek and taste of nature's good; 

Her charms he felt by aura sweet entice, 

As near her flowery couch the monarch stood; 

In contemplation deep his mind was fixed. 

And dwelt on sleeping Eve, by angels prized. 



COSMOSTORIA. 65 

Fresh flames of love his manly heart inspired, 
And, held in trance, he thus soliloquized: 

"Three stars I see in every mansion found, 

In radiant orbs afar as well as this; 
Their brilliant hues, combined, all realms surround, 

And constitute the uniform of bliss. 
Faith brightly gleams through all like sapphire blue, 

And ever through eternity abides; 
It gilds the social chain of friendship true, 

Where happy spirits dwell and God resides. 
Like beautiful and bright, Hope's steady star, 

In sardine colors set, and glories odd. 
Lures to ascend the scale of bliss afar. 

And leisurely explore the House of God. 
The infinite it saves from alien frown. 

And kindles quenchless flames on every shore; 
Will light the skies when nature's sun goes down, 

And brightly shine when time shall be no more. 
O matchless Love, joure as the virgin snow! 

Its heavenly rays, its coruscations bright. 



66 COSMOSTORIA. 

All worlds illume, through glittering mansions go. 

And fill immensity with dazzling light. 
As spai^kling dewdrops waste in balmy air, 

From off the weeping eyelids of the morn. 
As vapors disappear, or fragrance rare 

Dies on the golden sheen by zephyrs worn; 
So early beauties fade in virgin smiles, 

When mortal touch the blighting chill imparts, 
Soft whispers still — immortal life beguiles. 

And breaks a link in friendship's chain of hearts. 
By sorrows oft endeared, this mystic tie. 

In dying, lives — binds on eternal shores — 
Is sanctified by grace, and raised on high — 

Lives in eternity, and God adores. 
Pure as a beam of light is holy love. 

The magnet law of hearts that may be riven; 
It guides to peace below, inclines above — 

Of all, the greatest owned — and reigns in heaven." 

Half prophecy, and half by human ken. 

Much told unseen, and much in sight untold, 



COSMOSTORIA. 67 

He bowed himself like angels pure, or when 

They hide their face behind their pinion fold. 
Close side by side they now together walked, 

To search their nightly bower — the day far s^Dcnt;. 
They dwelt on love, of wondrous nature talked, 

Discoursed of God and of His goodness lent. 
On halting step oft did they starward gaze, 

And penetrate the vast cerulean height; 
Oft watch the planets through their orbits blaze, 

Or glitter on the crown of cjueenly night. 
How oft o'er Eden saw a splendor run; 

Its cause beheld — ten million angels fly 
Across the purple rim of setting sun. 

Or busy speed along the reddened sky. 
They drowsy nature heard her Lord revere, 

In songs combined with chorus from the deep. 
And watched her artful ways to soothe her ear 

And stir the winds to rock herself to sleep. 
So passed the day, the first to Eden love. 

When wooed aloft to wonder and adore. 



6S COSMOSTORIA. 

As gleaming on the way the Heavenly Dove 
A solemn splendor spread the landscape o'er. 

On bended knee, with eyes to heaven upturned 

And hands together joined, the happy pair 
Felt God was near; their hearts within them burned 

As they communed with Him in evening prayer. 
Their sweet devotions ope'd the heavenly stores; 

As incense rose from lips untaught to pray, 
And altar lights, that burned on earthly shores, 

Combined with suns of the eternal day. 
'The great Creator smiled and called it good, 

Received their thankful praise and holy vows; 
While earth, so late restored, before Him stood, 

A mansion in the Heavenly Father's House. 



part j5pfipnf|. 



ANALYSIS. 

Danger Nigh — Happiness — Lapse of Time from the Fall of 
Morning Stars to t lie Fall of Man — Inherent Elements of Fallen 
Nature Classed as Thrones^ and Personified — Modes of Operation 
of these Elements Classed as Dominions^ and Personified — Speech 
of Revenge — Speech of Envy — Malice Dumh 'Mith Rage — Speech 
of Satan — He Acknoivlcdgcs Ambition's Silent Infiuence — He Sums 
up the Ground of the Temptation of Alan — Dominions Made 
Ready to Advance. 




PART SEVENTH, 



THE realm of light near that of darkness is, 
The piercing thorn beside the fragrant rose, 
The gulf of woe yawns by the mount of bliss, 

And close to death's dark sea life's river flows. 
Distresses and delights string thick the line 

Between the storm and incense-freighted breeze; 
Proud ships o'erride the grave of ocean brine, 

And pleasure isles are washed by threatening seas. 
The crown of peace by lovely Eden worn, 

And studded thick with many a dazzling star, 
Might soon be crushed and leave her brow forlorn, 

And Paradise become the scene of war. 



73 COSMOSTORIA. 

O happiness, thou widening stream sublime! 

Ineffable and wondrous is the name; 
Eternity thyself imparts, and time; 

Thy source immense, thy terminus the same! 
How spirits pure upon thy bosom glide, 

And navigate the regions of the blest! 
How sons of God drink of thy crystal tide. 

And angels bathe thy shoreless seas of rest. 
When time began, and in the depths before, 

Thou always wast, and ever more shall be; 
Fed from exhaustless source, back shalt thou pour 

Thy ceaseless stream in great eternity. 

The sea of years lashed the eternal shore, 

And surging cycles filled the darkening void; 
Perhaps an age, perhaps ten thousand more, 

Since Satan sinned and earth had been destroyed. 
Rebellion crushed, the sound of holy wars 

Had not been heard, until our nature's birth, 
Since Michael fought the fallen morning stars, 

And conquered peace on ante-human earth. 



COSMOSTORIA. 73 

Hell's darkened chambers oft the maddened throng- 
Had shaken with their threatenings through the past. 

For opportunity they waited long — 

The time to execute had come at last; 

In outer darkness clothed, and sheeted fire, 
Three loyal thrones the insurrection led. 

With gnashing teeth, and rank with fell desire, 
Revenge arose, the first to speak, and said: 

"O Satan, and ye thrones of endless woes, 

Hear now my principle, as oft before; 
Defeat, insult or wrong what I oppose. 

In small or great, I will return, and more! 
Thus absolute, I no conditions know; 

Though cycles lapse, I never can forget; 
Like poison parasites, my meshes grow 

And spread until my victim I beset. 
Dominions true — for on Deception sly, 

On restless Jealousy, and brav/ling Strife, 
And bloody Cruelty, I can rely, 

And on the rest who breathe our spirit rife — 



74 COSMOSTORIA. 

Well known it is, that ages long ago 

We lost our earthly home and were expelled, 
And to this moment held in chains of woe. 

Because, forsooth, 't was said we had rebelled ! 
Lo! Eden see more lovely than before. 

And in it placed a new, incipient race: 
No ill to these I owe, but have in store 

Defeat when Michael fought us face to foce. 
Now crush this rising hoj^e, the earth despoil, 

And thwart the plans the Deity has laid; 
And I shall reinforce, and onward foil 

The fast unfolding works His hands have made." 

He, saying thus, excitedly sat down, 
A rigid look, with bitterness enraged. 

And knitted brow, made the determined frown. 
Which frantic minions to his cause engaged. 

Proud Envy next arose, with wild applause. 
And for the while the grim confusion broke; 

With principle distinct, but common cause, 

He urged the hellish scheme as thus he spoke: 



COSMOSTORIA. 



75 



*' Most honored Chief, of all the hosts supreme, 

And comrade thrones, your wisdom will foresee 
My passion will effect this horrid scheme, 

And with Revenge a true ally will be. 
Another's good to me is constant pain; 

Another's happiness, my misery; 
I cannot passive bear another's gain. 

Nor quietly another's pleasures see. 
With throne Revenge, dominions I command, 

And in this hell-born scheme will naught dissent. 
With Covetousness, a throne, we often band, 

To stench the stream of bliss from glory lent. 
Naught profits me while here before me rise 

Fair Eden's beauteous pair, with starlike crown; 
I may not soar on wings to sunnv skies, 

But I will eager pluck the bright ones down." 

Then writhing thunders groaned as he essayed 
To fair describe the issue and the doom; 

And hissing tongues like forked lightning played. 
And eyes peered forth like headlights through the 
Sfloom. 



>j6 COSMOSTORIA. 

Next Malice rose, a throne of ghastly mien, 

While myriad furies thronged his crimson path; 

He, dumb, with wild contortions vent his spleen. 
And foaming blood halloed his frenzied wrath. 

"Hail! thrones, dominions brave, my hosts!" he said — 

As Satan sat in triple darkness bound. 
And far and wide through all his kingdom spread 

The fire of eyes and voice of earthquake sound — 
" To propagate its species and increase, 

In nature is a changeless law, we know; 
An empire must advance, or soon will cease — 

Non-enterprise will prove its overthrow. 
I therefore owe to throne iVmbition much, 

Whose policy is one of subtile plan; 
Though speaking not, I own his quickening touch, 

To instigate the fall of pristine man. 
The sum is this: to test Ambition's worth. 

In gaining rule o'er Eden's newborn race; 
To seek revenge, for loss of primal earth, 

On those whom God hath made to fill our place; 



COSMOSTORIA. 77 

To gratify a burning, envious mind, 

That finds unrest when happiness is nigh; 

Witli ruin's wail to satiate mahce blind: 
O mighty hosts, these at the basis lie." 

When Satan ceased to speak, a moment's spell 

Of hideous silence held the blinding gloom; 
Then frightful sounds and showers of curses fell. 

To celebrate the jubilee of doom. 
A stern command went forth from Satan's seat. 

And thrones, dominions bold and hosts appeared. 
They now received with rage his plans discreet, 

And with suspense his marching orders heard. 
Dominion dark. Deception, heard the charge, 

For first of all the plan was to deceive; 
Then Lying next, with suasive powers large, 

To make the infimt race his words believe. 
Against their innocence to guard in time. 

Dominion Cruelty availed the chance. 
All poised on waiting wing, the dismal chime 

Of thunder sounds as signal to advance. 



parf ^Ig^f^. 



ANALYSIS. 

Life — Desire — Genealogy of Sin — Death by Procession — 
Trinity of Hell — Trinity of Woe in Council — Hosts Cross 
Acheron and Pass the Door of Hell — They Hover around Eden. 





PART EIGHTH. 



GIFT passing strange, by nature undefined, 
Safe fortified from bold inquiry's strife, 
In mind enthroned, ungrasped by finite mindy 

All-present, yet unseen — mysterious life; 
Chain infinite, from nothingness extent, 

(Itself infinitude to struggling thought,) 
Upward to God its giving source unspent. 

Surpassing all in price, itself unbought. 
Its sunshine warms sweet pleasure's coral isle. 

And strews with orient pearls the heavenly fields; 

In virtue's home it wakes the dreamy smile. 

Perfumes repose and blush to beauty yields. 
6 



82 COSMOSTORIA. 

Inseparably one, in union twined, 

Mysterious life and passing strange desire — 
As well in God, the uncreated Mind, 

As down the creature ranks of low attire. 

Desire invites to good in future stored, 

And eager fills the infinite design; 
It promises new raptures unexplored, 

And sighs for possibilities divine; 
Lends aspirations strong to battling fame. 

Craves equal, whether granted or denied; 
Unfueled, burns an unextinguished flame, 

Consuming evermore, yet unsupplied. 
In instinct's realm, where senseless passion reigns, 

And moral obligation unapplied, 
It to enjoyment yields its fullest gains 

Through appetite and passion gratified. 
In this low grade, devoid of wisdom meet, 

It oft conceives an offspring strangely twain — 
Is mother to the race of pleasures sweet 

And to the savage tribes of ill-born pain. 



COSMOSTORIA. 83 

With mind it weds a parenthood complete, 

That quickly forth both sin and virtue brings; 
Capacity to know is thus the seat 

Where moral nature first to being springs. 
For lofty Ego, then, was law ordained, 

To know and do what in the law is found; 
That life, imperiled thus, might be maintained, 

And hot desire to bearing virtue bound. 
Desire is mother in this parent head. 

And subject thus with lordly Ego mates; 
Itself is by insatiate cravings led. 

And 'lone conceives what Ego generates: 
If Ego will the law, Desire conceives, 

And bears a virtuous brood that life adorn; 
Or law disdain, then forth a monster heaves 

To horrid view, and hideous sin is born. 

'Twas so in pristine earth when Satan fell, 

Beyond the yawning chasm of years unknown, 

A monster born, heir of the Chief of hell, 
And in his realm a joartner to the throne. 



84 COSMOSTORIA. 

The law is life, its faithful guardian been, 

But melts like snow at will's determined breath; 
Hence life is lost where Satan reigns, and sin, 

Of nature one, and, by procession, death. 
Thus Satan, chief in unity of aim. 

With Sin and Death joint rules the world below; 
Of power one, whose substance is the same. 

And these comprise the trinity of woe. 

Ten thousand peals of thunders uttered loud, 

And blasphemies the stormy realm defiled, 
And closing round vast mountain heaps of cloud, 

Like Pelion grand on ancient Ossa piled; 
So midst the gloom hell's trinity withdrew, 

Where listless streams of silent Lethe lave 
The midnight throne, beyond the hazy view, 

More dismal than the dark Trophonian cave. 

As when on some dark night, in whispering tone, 
Assassins cool review their bloody plot. 

Survey the whole, and try each part alone, 
Then cautiously ajDproach the fatal spot; 



COSMOSTORIA. 85 

Or when that monster vile in human shape, 

The meanest beast beneath the frowns of Jove, 
In sohtude conceives accursed rape 

On virtuous beauty and defenseless love: 
So cautiously the trinity of hell 

Reviewed the deep-laid scheme and every part, 
Resolved in force to execute it well, 

And, waiting not, to try the tempter's art. 

The signal order came as Satan led, 

And Sin and Death, the fiery hosts of doom; 
A crown of ebony they wore o'ersj^read, 

With cypress leaves and sad narcissus' bloom. 
O'er noiseless Acheron they paused in flight, 

And prone intent in bold defiance gazed, 
While hoary Minos stood appalled in sight. 

And, helpless struck, with indignation blazed. 
Now bounding far, they through the ether sj^ed, 

As crouching Cerberus, with fright aghast, 
Like lightning flashed his eyes, by fury red. 

And hideous growled like thunder as they passed. 



86 



COSxMOSTORIA. 



As, crouching low, the ravenous Hon grows, 
As near his victim comes, in hunger more, 

So Satan felt at Eden's near expose. 

And Sin drew nigh and Death was at the door. 




f&vi Jttinflj. 



ANALYSIS. 

JSden on the Morning of the Transgression — The Heavenly 
Dove and Angels seem to Indicate Approaching Trouble — Adam 
and Eve Come to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil — 
They Turn Away — Adam Goes to Dressing the Garden — Eve is 
Accosted^ first by Deception^ then by Lying — Hour of Hesitation 
— She Takes the Fatal Fruity Hears Adam Approaching, and Runs 
to him for Protection — Her Speech — Adam Yields and Eats the 
Friiit from her Hand — Tribute to Woman — Cherubim Stationed 
— Hope^ the Heavenly Virgin, Appears — They Embrace the Promise- 
Star, and Retire to their Nightly Bower — Adam''s Speech of Peni- 
ience and Hope — Last of the Day of Transgressioji. 




PART NINTH. 



BRIGHT orient beams — soft blush on nature's 
cheek ; 

As when a vh-ghi wakes from dreams of weal, 
While on her brow her careless tresses seek 

To hide her charms, and beauties to conceal, 
So, tossing back the cover of the night, 

Queen Nature rose to greet the rising day, • 
And dressed herself in morning robes of light, 

Her sweetness to dispense and wealth display. 
Enamored of her charms, with lavish hand 

She strewed her diamond Avealth and rich joerfume, 
Till s^oarkling pearls reflected from the land, 

In glimmering waves, the hues of heavenly bloom'. 



90 



COSMOSTORIA. 



Luxuriance wild 112^011 her bosom gleamed, 

And strung with costly gems her jeweled arms- 
Most exqui-:.ite her garb; for Eden seemed, 

That balmy morn, to wear divinest charms. 
Delicious fruits hung thick, like angels' food, 

On garden trees, for Adam and his wife; 
And in the midst the tree of knowledge stood, 

And near to it was there the tree of life. 

Now o'er them waved the spotless veil of love. 

And on the peaceful crown of gentle Eve 
There sat in snowy plume the Heavenly Dove, 

And, restless, turned as though* about to leave. 
A special charge the angels seemed to feel, 

And clustering nigh, their busy jDinions spread. 
To guard the day, and human life to seal, 

And on their path a solemn sjolendor shed. 

Lo! now they stood near by the fatal tree. 
And wondered at the richness of its fruit; 

A godlike consciousness that they were free. 

They felt, and turned to seek their fond pursuit, 



COSMOSTORIA. gi 

When sly Deception rose, as from the ground, 

Who stealthily had into Eden crept, 
And lain unseen in secrecy jDrofound, 

At midnight, when unconscious nature slept: 
As, low concealed, the deadly serpent lies 

Beneath the garden shrub, where virgins come. 
And strikes with poisonous fangs the hand that tries 

To pluck the rose for an iinmortal home. 

He spoke, like to an angel clothed in light, 

And thus his sentence ran: "'Yea, hath God said'? 
O gentle Eve, thou canst not deem it right 

To keep these longing appetites unfed. 
Thou mayest not know the breadth of His command, 

For finite minds may fail the whole to know. 
And creatures sooner far misunderstand 

His righteous law, than God should treat them so." 

Then Lying first appeared in heavenly guise. 
As though he far on friendly wing had sped 

To bear the tidings of some sweet surprise; 
But lo! what fearful speech, as thus he said: 



92 COSMOSTORIA. 

"'Ye shall not die!' O lovely Eve and free, 

For God doth know that this shall ope your eyes, 

And in the day ye eat ye then shall be 

As gods to know, and like the gods be wise." 

O fatal hour, when this death sentence closed! 

To hesitate is to be certain lost — 
The fragile flower of Eden left exposed 

To storms of sin and death's cold blighting frost. 
Immortal moment, when the gateway wide, 

And broad the road of dread destruction seemed. 
In vision range almost to be descried, 

And thronging with unnumbered millions teemed. 

With motion hesitant, her waxen hand 

Stretched forth to touch the test-forbidden tree. 
'T is done! and instantly the ambushed band 

Renewed the shout of hellish jubilee. 
A shadow passed o'er all the shining sward. 

As when a cloud obscures the sunny sky; 
And, pale with fear, she turned to see her lord, 

Whose sounding steps she heard approaching nigh. 



COSMOSTORIA. 



93 



Then, as a child in doubt its mother seeks, 

Half recognized, commingling love and fear. 
She halting sought his hand, with moistened cheeks 

That bore in pain the first sad human tear. 
Around his neck she clasped her snowy arms, 

As though her heart did break beneath the stroke. 
And then imploringly her wifely charms 

Entwined his heart, as thus she sobbing spoke: 

" O husband dear, whom there is none above ! 

My happiness to do thy lordly will. 
Sole object of my heart's unfaltering love! 

Canst thou protect, and wilt thou love me still? 
My highest bliss to be thy loving wife, 

And pay to thee a tribute of delight; 
And through the day to hang upon thy life. 

And nestle in thy bosom during night. 
Whilst thou wast near, in dressing trees employed. 

And lone intent in keeping Paradise, 
Some enemy of good hath me decoyed, 

And by his cunning did my soul entice. 



94 



COSMOSTORIA. 



I thought it was a friendly angel spoke, 

And, listening to his words, at length believed, 
Nor better knew till I had felt the stroke, 

And learned, alas! that I had been deceived. 
Alone in grief, must I from thee depart? 

And on thy wife alone be sorrow laid? 
O clasp me near thy warm and bounding heart; 

Embrace me close, for I am sore afraid. 
O trust me still, for since the deed is done 

The angels keep at distance and are shy; 
Eat this; and as in life we have been one 

We still will be, and undivided die." 
Then weej^ing loud, in great commotion she 

Gave him the fruit. He took it, greatly moved, 
And, undeceived, he freely ate; for he 

The creature more than the Creator loved. 

Fair woman, thou art in thy ruins grand; 

And, like the autumn leaf, art lovely still. 
Though changed; thy very weakness doth command 

Thy lord's divinest love, and rules his will. 



COSMOSTORIA. 95 

Unseen, though felt, the scepter of thy power 

Rules, as it is, the world, or might have been; 
Thy gallant husband owned it in the hour. 

When for thy sake alone he dared to sin. 
Thrones weaken at thy love's bewitching art. 

And conquering armies march in thy employ; 
Bathsheba's charms imprisoned David's heart, 

And Helen's beauty caused the fall of Troy. 
In secret power thy fingers touch the spring 

That bares the treasured wealth of mammon's store; 
Thy graces to the halls of pleasure bring 

The sole resistless charm of value more. 
For thee thy smitten lords all fears dismiss. 

And pour the crimson flood in deadly strife. 
That some strong lover might, in nuptial bliss. 

Embrace thy charming hand, and call thee wife. 
The stalwart arm its ready strength ex2:)ends, 

From dewy morn till starry eve, for thee; 
And mighty mind its \villing tribute lends, 

And at thy feet bestows its homage free. 



g6 COSMOSTORIA. 

All oceans have for thee been bravely sailed, 
Nor pilgrimage of peril deemed too great; 

The dangers of all mountains have been scaled 
To w^itness to thy worth and on thee w^ait. 

About thy husband's care thou dost entwine, 

As like a cheerful wreath of evergreen; 
And in his household art a fruitful vine, 

Whose branches cluster in a living screen. 
When trials thicken on his weary path, 

Thy strong devotion strengthens with each stroke; 
And fiercer blasts of the devouring wrath 

Inspire thy zeal and new thy aid invoke. 
Thy gentle hand soft soothes his fevered brow. 

Nor tires beneath the languid flight of years; 
As fragrant bloom adorns the thorny bough. 

Thy presence sweet his wasting sickness cheers; 
Thy touches warm melt off the gathering frost. 

And kisses mark his slow receding breath. 
Thy flowing tears embalm the treasure lost, 

And, true in life, thou lovest him in death. 



COSMOSTORIA. 97 

Untaught the better way, whei'e idols reign, 

Thou mountest bold thy husband's funeral pyre, 

And, to attest thy love, thou dost disdain 
All fear to burn in his cremation fire. 

At once the cherubim, with flaming sword, 

Hard by the tree of life their stations took, 
To guard the sign of the Eternal Word, 

Now seared with blood, in love's unopened book. 
To save from immortality in sin. 

The fallen pair was from this privilege thrust. 
That grace divine might yet their spirits win, 

And call their bodies from the lowly dust. 

\ 
Behold a wonder now apjDeared in heaven! 

A Virgin clothed in robes of heavenly gloss; 
Upon her peaceful brow to her was given 

To wear a star, and on her breast a cross; 
Her jeweled hand a smoking censer held. 

And down to earth she bore a golden chain: 

First dawn of hope since Eden had rebelled, 

That gracious love might win it back again. 
7 



98 COSMOSTORIA. 

The fearful pair from secret thickets came, 

And, trembHng with alarm as ne'er before, 
Both bondage-yoke received, in naked shame, 

And hailed the promise-star the Virgin wore. 
In plaintive mood, beneath their nightly bower, 

Where oft their songs had furnished such delight^ 
They now in silence sat, for one sad hour, 

And watched the shadows blacken into night — 
Like that lone emptiness that stilly reigns 

Where cruel death has left a vacant chair. 
And naught the silence breaks but low refrains, 

Which make dull music in the ambient air. 
Just as the sun the dim horizon blushed, 

From musings deep the silence Adam broke — 
Emotions like a storm his nature crushed. 

And, weeping tears of penitence, he spoke: 

"O what a mighty change, in time so brief! 

In orphanage, our sin has made us so! 

What wondrous love! our sentence and relief, 

' In time the same, from the Creator flow. 



COSMOSTORIA. 



99 



Fair daughter of the skies is virgin Hope, 

Whose chain of love divine regains our loss; 
It girts the world within its ample scope, 

And round God's throne is fastened by the Cross, 
His sacred promise is the star we saw, [head; 

That woman's Seed should bruise the serpent's 
This precious ransom stays the broken law, 

Gives riches to the jDOor, and life the dead; 
Its glowing light our weary feet shall guide. 

And its eternal truth shall be our trust; 
In busy life our way shall not divide. 

And, dying one, will join appointed dust." 

First day of sin in sepulture was laid. 

And dreary night-winds wailed its funeral dirge; 
The star-sown fields its lengthened corpse displayed, 

And as a cortege marched night's solemn verge. 
Kind angels, near, their friendly pinions spread, 

To guard the pair, and nightly vigils keep; 
Then, couched upon their rose-enameled bed. 

Their troubles soon were lost in balmy sleep. 



parf ^?n% 



ANALYSIS. 

Satan, foiled by the Kingdom of Redeeming Grace, Adjusts 
/lis Forces to Occupy the Eart/i— Thrones: Idolatry, Enty, Alur- 
dcr. Revenge, Malice, Ambition, Pride, Covetousness, Adultery, 
Intemperance; Dominions: Witchcraft, Blasphemy, Jealousy, 
Strife, Deception, Lying, Theft, Cruelty. 




PART TENTH. 



RETURNING from the scene, the dark-wing'd 
host — 

The triune head, and thrones, dominions, all — 
In hellish glee made their s.atanic boast. 

And ghastly grinned o'er Eden's sudden fall. 
On Satan's ebon crown a belt of gloom, 

In bold relief, announced his conquest new. 
And signified the strengthening bands of doom. 

Which spread with sin's advance, and tighter drew. 
Vexation settled on his massive foce. 

And anxious furrows plowed his visage broad; 
For more than all did he discern the place 

•That faith assigned the promise-star of God. 



I04 COSMOSTORIA. 

This unexpected move of heavenly plan 

His counsel foiled, and sprung a dread surprise; 
For he had vainly thought that fallen man, 

Like sinning morning stars, could never rise. 
Then filled with rage, the hopeful scheme maligned, 

And nev\f devices planned to thwart the move. 
To dim the hoj^e that man should mercy find, 

And check the kingdom of redeeming love. 

Idolatry went forth from Satan's seat, 

Clothed with a throne's authority and rank. 

That he the plans of wisdom might defeat, 
Despoil the church, and all her armies flank. 

Lo! nations at his shrine submissive kneel. 

While ignorance and clouds his throne o'erspread; 
Dark superstition aids to bruise the heel 

Of woman's vSon, who bruises Satan's head. 
Of reason proud, grand nature some adore. 

And from His own domain the Lord expel; 
And some of weaker minds, and blindness more. 

To works of human art their praises swell. 



COSMOSTORIA. I05 

To suns and stnrs, majestic rivers broad, 

To roaring- ocean from the pebbly shore, 
Some homage pay, who know not nature's God; 

And from the made the Maimer's help implore. 
To images of things above, beneath — 

Carved skillfully, to suit a vain conceit. 
Of senseless wood and stone — of things that breathe, 

Some jDrostrate fall, and worship at their feet. 
A wretched pilgrimage of aimless toil. 

Through long and weary years of heat and cold, 
Some victims make, to kiss the yielding- soil. 

And their devotions jDay to sordid gold. 
Some yield their love supreme at fashion's shrine, 

And worship costly robes of silken gloss; 
In pride they wear insignia divine. 

And for an ornament the sacred cross. 
On pleasure's sunny mount, in Cypress' isle. 

Where tempting Venus drives her winged team, 
Some go, to bask in her bewitching smile. 

And worship where her flashing diamonds gleam. 



Io6 COSMOSTORIA. 

In fame's gilt temple, where, with empty heart, 
Rapt votaries bestow their anxious praise, 

Some bow, to feel at last the conscious smart 
That they have vainly wasted all their days. 

O grim Idolatry ! where God is known. 

In lands enlightened by eternal truth, 
Poor ^blinded souls, thou boldest as thine own, 

Of age experience-tried, and heedless youth; 
Nor shall thine altar fall nor stand alone. 

Nor human voices of thy pj-aises tire. 
Till power divine shall hurl thee from thy throne, 

And fix thy changeless doom in cjuenchless fire. 

The victory achieved in Eden's fall, 

To Envy did such fresh distinction yield, 
That foremost, none more eager was of all 

The fiery hosts to occupy the field. 
Thus, when for sin to earlv sacrifice 

The sons of Adam went, with gifts prepared, 
From fruits of field and flock did oflTcrings rise; 

But, wanting faith, Cain no acceptance shared. 



COSMOSTORIA. IO7 

Here Envy rose, insatiate Murder called, 

And struck with reeking club tiie deadly wound; 
The shocking scene the universe appalled, 

As fratricidal blood cried from the ground. 
Ecclesiastics with unblushing shame 

Oft yield to Envy's yoke, and living, die: 
They hate the man who wins a higher name. 

And fills a place that the}- would fain supply. 
Oft nations draw the sword by Env}' lent, 

And dye with human gore the peaceful crown, 
Because, forsooth, they dwell in discontent. 

And have unrest to bring another down. 

A most atrocious show, a horrid scene. 

First dimly seen, then to full vision grew; 

An amphitheater grasped the terrene. 

And human life surveyed in single view. 

A pale and mangled form, in purple gown, 

Lay wept — a woman's love, a nation's pride — 

The head blood-bathed that wore of right the crown 
Now made to fit a heartless regicide. 



loS COSMOSTORIA. 

Another, too, and by his side his wife. 

And near to these did ghastly children lie; 
For cursed gold they had been robbed of life. 

And some because the dead ne'er testify. 
In early life another had been slain, 

And thus, Adonis-like, untimely slept — 
The price of honor paid in deadly pain, 

While, statue-like, a virgin o'er him wept, 
A strangled child exposed infanticide; 

The fruit of sin, itself devoid of blame, 
Thus sacrificed by cruel hands, to hide 

Its fallen mother's unaffianced shame. 
A cannibal in frightful audience stood. 

And at his feet lay one of human kind; 
His reeking club he held, besmeared with blood. 

And on his victim, like foul harpies, dined. 
Another still, bereft of reason's reign. 

Had to himself the fatal knife applied; 
The saddest winds did o'er his corpse complain. 

For he had died unwept — a suicide. 



COSMOSTORIA. IO9 

This horrid work vile Murder does, and more, 
And deluges the land with purple flood ; 

The fallen earth he fills with ruin's store, 
And bathes his cimeter in human blood. 

The battle rages sore; the din and smoke, 

Confused, from earth in fiery columns rise; 
Each inuttering sound succeeding peals provoke, 

And blazes burnish red the brazen skies. 
As all the spirit hosts run to and fro, 

And wickedness in places high contend, 
Revenge, the first to plan the overthrow. 

His deadly lines enrages to the end. 
From lowest walks of life, where mind debased 

The slough of folly trails, untaught to soar 
To peerless flights by rarest talent traced, 

Revenge prevails, and enters every door. 
His minions crowd the palace and the hut. 

And wealth and virtue blast, and everv good; 
His sooty wings the snowy garments smut, 

And o'er the bodies soiled intently brood: 



no COSMOSTORIA. 

From dawn to dusk, through hfc's unfoldhig way, 
He feasts with greed, and gloats his ravenous maw, 

As well with spiteful boys at idle play, 

As naughtier men contending at the law. 

As smoldering fires, to wanton ruin prone, 

With tongues of flame oft lick the heated air, 
Or oft within the huge volcano groan, 

Or hurtle o'er the plain in wild despair: 
So Malice fills the land with devilish woes, 

And human passion sets on fire of hell. 
With angry words, and oft with deadly blows, 

He serves his cause and most delights to dwell. 
Beside all souls his thorny pathway lies, 

And leads within the fort the hellish crew; 
Its ways divide the dearest social ties, 

And lose, in sin's dark wilds, hearts once so true. 

Behold Ambition, now, the race inspire! 

Whose secret forces urged the guilty fall: 
The sons of men are seized with rank desire 

To rule and hold the rein, or ruin all. 



COSMOSTORIA. Ill 

Unbound by laws of nature, God or men, 

No right, no wrong does proud Ambition know;. 
By bribes, and bids, and ways of hellish ken. 

He even dares to crush both friend and foe. 
His devotees, to high adventures led, 

Regard not merit's claim, nor human good, 
But tempt insatiate thirst, by havoc fed. 

To keener want and darker deeds of blood. 
How thick they crowd the gates of j^romised fame. 

And long for wealth and greatness unpossessed; 
Hope fancy-gilds their distant, glittering aim, 

And leaves their souls forevermore unblest. 
Who climbs this mount, in hope to gain the top. 

Will view ascending heights, and still aspire; 
And when life's wheels stand still, will weary drop 

The withered palm, and of ambition tire. 

Among the thrones who fill the earth with woe. 
And j^bress the cause of vSatan, Sin and Death, 

Disdainful Pride appeared in haughty show. 
To wilt the rose of love with arctic breath. 



112 COSMOSTORIA. 

Cold as the mountains of eternal snows, 

And harder far than adamantine stone, 
The mien of Pride congeals where'er it goes, 

And I'eigns upon a self-erected throne. 
The proud are cannibals — on self they feed, 

For nothing else will sate their craving maw; 
The vanity of praise conceals the deed, 

And makes of real life a man of straw. 
Like creatures sleek in a museum found, 

That seem, unwarmed by life, contently grave, 
And stare with sightless eyes on all around — 

Not sought for what they are, but seem to have: 
The proud, well stuffed, show more of brass than brains, 

And, blind to others' good, see not their sin; 
They work for show, and seek whei-e honor reigns; 

They herald self, and drink its praises in. 

' T is Covetousness, arrayed in purple gown. 
That craves unlawfully another's right; 

Luxuriates upon a bed of down. 

And plans to gain possession, day and night. 



COSMOSTORIA. 11^ 

With getting, grows the want for further gains, 

As avalanches, falHng, faster fall; 
Possession breeds desire for what remains. 

Nor sates a covetous soul by having all. 
What wonders of despair this throne hath wrought! 

What havoc hei-e have not his minions done! 
He occupies the fallen globe unbought. 

And blending, with Idolatry is one. 
On others' wealth he turns his lustful eye, 

And grins o'er glittering joiles of golden ore; 
He hears unmoved the helpless widow's cry. 

And pounces, vulture-like, on orphans' store. 

There is a blush that mantles virtue's cheek, 
The safeguard nature gives, a heavenly spark; 

But this must fail of aid to those who seek 
A screen behind the curtains of the dark. 

Thus, under shield and cover of the night, 
Adultery his first advances makes; 

Love's passion, all unguarded by the light. 

He spies, and quick the golden fortress takes. 
S 



•COSMOSTORIA. 



Exposure the occasion oft supplies, 

As, wanting modesty, fair Dinah must 
Walk forth, to see and to be seen of eyes, 

And thus a victim falls to Shechcm's lust. 
Such challenges of beauty publish much, 

And barter priceless virtue for a price; 
They advertise, by wanton view or touch, 

What lewd ones count a premium on vice. 
By wealth's support, and urged by human pride. 

The gay and gaudy robe, through fashion's door, 
The mystic key displays at fashion's side, 

That locks and opens half of virtue's store. 
Adultery thus uses fashion's sway. 

Pure nature to inflame and lure to sin — 
By nude expose and half obscene display 

To win attention first, then further win. 
To passion's torrent course, unchecked, supplied, 

The crown of self-control is rudely cast; 
Sweet virtue sinks beneath the swelling tide, 

And wan Adultery prevails at last. 



COSMOSTORIA. i I5 

O busy throne of hell! thy footprints mark 

The gilded j^arlors where the rich and great 
Convene to sip the wine, and idly spark 

And dissipate in pleasure's rich estate. 
Thy scant reward for stolen pleasure is 

A conscience all defiled, and blasted name, 
And o'er the corpse of dead domestic bliss. 

And ruined hopes, to spread the pall of shame. 
To hesitate one sadly fatal hour, 

And all's to virtue lost — thy triumph won; 
What happmess despoiled of human dower, 

What deeds of vice for Satan thou hast done! 

Another! Legions come! for who can tell 

What good this throne engages to destroy? 
His battleground the earth, his prison hell. 

And misery and death his vile employ. 
Intemperance to every vice is friend. 

The filthy boon companion to all crime; 
Awards a drunkard's grave to gloom life's end. 

The shame of hoary age and youthful prime. 



Il6 COSMOSTORIA. 

In ruins, man — no longer man, but brute — 

Reduced to poverty and haggard want, 
Lies foul and fast, while hell's dark, dismal suit 

Scare in his dreams and through his visions haunt. 
To fools a vulgar fun, to wise disgust. 

He reels from side to side, or hugs a post; 
Like wallowing swine, he mouths the filthy dust — 

Abandoned to disgrace, forever lost! 
Vice training all, by every evil trained, 

Intemperance is crowned man's direst foe; 
Annexing earth to hell by conquest gained. 

And feeding fresh the flames of endless woe. 

Lo! dark dominions speed from line to line. 

And swarm the landscape over far and wide; 
Witchcraft and Blasphemy their strength combine, 

And Jealousy and Strife go side by side. 
Deception sly, and Lying, hand in hand, 

With sneaking Theft their forces oft unite, 
In ambuscade to occupy the land. 

And take by fell surprise the sons of light. 



COSMOSTORIA. 



Vile Cruelty, and hosts of nameless foes, 

In haunted places lurk, like beasts of prey; 

Their wanton greed and purposes disclose. 
And rank and file complete of hell's array. 



117 




UParf ^Ipbpnfl. 



ANALYSIS. 

Three that bear Record in Earth : Pestilence^ War, Famine — 
Moral Harmony Jhe Safeguard to Life — Natural Evil — Provi- 
defice — Concealment — Dominion in the Realm of Natural Evil — 
Angelic Agejicy Important i?i the Executio?t of Divine Provi- 
dence — Mind over Matter — Pestilence an Agent of Natural Evil — 
War under the Government of Providence — Famine'' s Record. 










PART ELEVENTH. 



THREE record bear in hell, of blended throne, 
Great Satan, Sin, and Death — a hideous corps; 
And three on earth, in aim agreeing one, 

Dread Pestilence, and War, and Famine sore. 
This trinity of ill in nature found 

jMakes flesh as grass, and life a fleeting breath; 
On pleasure's cheek it kisses sorrow's wound. 

And crowds with guests the charnel-house of death. 

Of pristine earth, the harmony complete. 
With God's great moral uni^■erse sublime, 

Was first ordained to be a safeguard meet 
For life, prosperity, and ends of time. 

That harmony by moral evil rent, 

Assigns to man a place, abnormal, new; 



132 COSMOSTORIA. 

Thus agents nature wields, by heaven lent 

To favor life, may work its ruin, too. 
' T is not that nature's laws in Wisdom's plan 

Are agents of destruction set in force; 
Or that the ills entailed on hcljDless man 

Are justly reckoned part of nature's course; 
But rather sin has shifted man to place. 

Where nature's laws adversely operate; 
And man's relations, changed, expose the race 

To ills unfelt within the pristine state. 

The essence of the curse, the ground received 

For Adam's sin, is ill in nature bound; 
Not that all nature changed, as is believed. 

But man by sin displaced, the curse is found. 
Thus nature's evil is the one effect 

Of nature's agents uniformly good. 
But ojoerating all unchanged, direct 

On objects changed from where at first they stood. 
So lightning clouds, and water from the spring, 

Ordained of God to perfect nature's course, 



COSMOSTORIA. I23 

To the harmonious whole rich blessings bring, 
And ill to those who contravene their force. 

Known or unknown, well chosen or unwilled, 
Stern nature's broken law no pardon saith; 

Its penalty is sure, at once fulfilled; 
Proportion just, it graduates in death. 

^Tis Providence that rules with silent voice 

This realm, to cripple vice and virtue mend; 
N[ot punishment, so much, of pleasure's choice. 

As higher aims of jDrofit in the end. 
Though chastisement is grievous, and withstood. 

And Providence is blamed for plans devised, 
i"et heaven works for all the highest good. 

And leaves their wisdom baffled and surprised. 

Concealment dark is glory oft despised, 
For mystery enwraps the ways of God, 

And oft His blessings come to us disguised. 
And mercies bud the dr}' chastising rod. 

Tho' clouds and darkness thick His throne o'erwhelm. 
Yet righteousness and love invest His reign; 



124 COSMOSTORIA. 

The path of suffering gains the glorious reahn, 
And close by pleasure lies severest pain. 

He nature rules by laws His wisdom chose ; 

'Like changeless both to savage and to sage, 
As well the beast that breathes, the grass that grows. 

The realm of but a da}', or of an age. 
No evil He begins, and yet presides; 

No law annuls, nor penal sanction drops; 
But guardian angel oft from suffering hides 

The hero bold, the sparrow in the copse. 
What wisdom sees is best, is well secured; 

His providence commands, and angels move: 
Is penalty? then suffering is endured; 

Escaping this, it is amazing love. 
A general good may work a sjDCcial harm. 

And good and evil thus have common cause: 
The body gain the good, but ill the arm. 

And both result from universal laws. 
From off the mountain'*s brow the loosened stone 

Leaps reckless down upon the vale beneath; 



COSMOSTORIA. 

Nor ends the traveler's course, found there alone, 

By reason of a shrub that mounts the heath. 
'Tis Providence that foils the law's demand. 

Detained or urged, His gracious plans provide, 
By shrub as well as an archangel's hand, 

That evil and His child should not collide. 
So evil from one law is countervailed 

By foi'ce another brings, divinely hid; 
And harmony in whole checks ill entailed 

On creature heirs, that part in nature did. 

Angelic reason scans the mazes through. 

Enriched by knowledge for a special cause; 

O'er plastic matter rules where evils brew. 
And foils the penalty of nature's laws. 

See human mind in gilded chariot strive. 

To hold the reins of nature's law in hand! 

And thus for profit's store or pleasure drive 
Wild elements all harnessed at command. 

Beneath a canopy of ocean w^ave. 

The highway, submarine, untrodden lies, 



126 COSMOSTORIA. 

Which gems inlay, and brilliant corals pave, 

And where the winged steed of lightning flies, 

Sent with the speed of thought where sun and moon 
Illume the land, and stars their light difTuse; 

That friend with distant friend may far commune, 
And all the world may have the daily news. 

Or see ni rapt surprise the ponderous train. 

By mind conducted, and forbid to roam. 
Which nature's forces drive across the plain. 

And other laws of nature overcome! 
Can human mind the world with wonders fill, 

And nature's forces rule with magic rod? 
And have not angel minds the strength and skill 

To execute the providence of God? 
Or will they condescend to things so small? 

Or, what is vastly stranger, can it be 
The great Creator has completed all. 

Wound up the universe, and lost the key? 
Or has He locked in jail the world of mind. 

And left Himself no means to disenthrall? 



COSMOSTORIA. 



127 



Views intellect enslaved to matter, blind, 
Himself the greatest Prisoner of all? 

Behold that gallant ship display her force, 

Unwrecked by storm, unbroken by the tide! 
A lever touched, at once turns back her course, 

And proves her passive to her skillful guide. 
And shall not He w^ho launched the ship create 

To navigate, vmtried, eternal seas. 
By agencies at will direct her fate. 

And bring her to the haven He may please? 
The mighty Sovereign reigns; yea, sooner far 

Than all commit to chance of forces blind; 
He nature rules by law from sprig to star, 

And law, by law, subjects to sentient mind. 

What though dread Pestilence the land invade. 

And march with blighting scourge the circuit round; 

Hale human forms like autumn verdure fade, 

And strew like forest leaves the virgin ground: 

What though consumption wither youthful pride. 
And crape in place of orange blossoms give; 



128 COSMOSTORIA. 

With ruthless aim the stricken fold divide, 

To mourning some, and some forbid to live: 

'Tis but a part of the sad record borne 

In earth, where rests the curse upon the sod, 

And where the bitter speech of those who mourn 
Will vindicate the providence of God. 

Behold that helpless child, impatient, cry 

Amidst the roar and rumble of the car! 
Its struggling sleep, oft broken by a sigh. 

Denotes it born beneath a luckless star. 
Yet who, that strives for truth, but sees it jolain, 

That ills must be endured or overcome, 
And these appendages are of the train 

That quick conveys it to its quiet home? 
So, fretful man, forever cease thy strife! 

Thy Maker trust, who guides thee for the best; 
And ills, which throng the burdened train of life, 

Will helj) to sweeten thy eternal rest. 

Aloud the tocsin sounds the wails of strife; 
Tattoo alarms; the tide rolls high and fast; 



COSMOSTORIA. I39 

The deafening roar of drum, and screaming fife, 

Combine and mingle with the bugle blast. 
Vast clouds of dust climb slowly overhead, 

As patriotic armies forward move, 
To fields of death and ghastly carnage led. 

To guard their firesides and their prowess prove. 
Palatial cities feed the curling blaze, 

By vengeful torches doomed to blackened waste; 
And wealth and ease, the prize of former days. 

Retire like game before the sportsman chased. 
Like thunder roars the dreaded cannon's sound. 

And peal with peal sports like the angry flood ; 
The dead and dying pile the dusty ground, 

And feed like springs the streams of clotted blood. 
There lies the princely youth, who honor gained. 

But lost his life, at once so true and brave; 
No vine or shrub, by gentle friendship trained, 

Adorns the spot; he fills a soldier's grave. 

And there 'neath alien sod the husband sleeps. 

While she who once was called his happy bride, 
9 



130 COSMOSTORIA. 

In mourning at her window sits and weeps, 
And vacant, calls her children to her side. 

O cruel War! thy record on the earth. 

The flames of envy, kindles with thy breath; 
Thy pains deliver nations at their birth. 

And constitute their agony in death. 
To bondage and oppression's galling yoke 

Thy vanquished are consigned, like galley slaves; 
Thy victors, too, in turn receive the stroke. 

For equal over both thy banner waves. 

In yon lone garret place, where vermin swarm. 

And mammon's vice the starving poor obey. 
There Famine sits, a lank and haggard form. 

While plenty rules scarce sixty feet away. 
His pinch in blasted lands, the rich by flight 

Escape in time, and leave the helpless poor; 
His presence fills the dark and dismal night. 

That brinsfs the wolf to their defenseless door. 



I^flrf t^Mfll 



ANALYSIS. 

A Legend — The Redeemer^ the Supreme Gift, Announced — 
The Cross the Sole Moral Light of the Father^ s House — The 
Missing Chord — Probation Secured to the Earth by the Cross — 
Humanity Weeping over the IVorhs of Death — Glimmerings of 
Hope upon the Tomb — -Resurrection — Hints of Nature — The 
Resurrection of Christ — Triumph of LIumanity over Death — 
Childhood Glorified — Bride of the Lamb. 




PART TWELFTH. 



UPTURNED, lo! Grecian eyes afar descry 
Descending glory spread, or gently fold, 
As Ariel scales the azure walls of sky. 

And nears the earth, as saith the legend old. 
His wings, reflecting down cerulean hue. 

Thus bathe and dip the stai"-strewn ocean round — 
A solemn splendor darting o'er the view, 

And shedding golden tinges on the ground. 
Two rival cities watch the heavenly prize. 

Till lighted equidistant and between — 
Intent to own the gold and purjDle guise, 

They vent, in hot dispute, their wrangling spleen; 



134 COSMOSTORIA. 

Alarmed at selfish claims which foster sin, 
The calumet refuse, with aim to fight: 

While they in weakness strive the prize to win. 
In strength divine the angel takes his flight. 

So heavenly gifts on golden wings descend, 
Of value vast, to man devoid of cost; 

Men curious gaze until their wranglings end: 
The gift departs, and leaves the gazers lost. 

Of every blessing blest, hail Gift supreme! 

Adored by angel song since time began. 
Eternal King of the redemptive scheme, 

Conserving all by saving fallen man. 
Judean plains returned His natal song, 

As angels swept the stars, the sun and moon, 
Entranced the world of mind with hallowed tongue. 

And filled the Father's House with joyful tune. 
Foremost did Adam lead, and Eve along, 

Redeemed from earth to grace, the sacred van. 
Till every mansion rang with holy song — 

"To God be glory, and good will to man!"* 



COSMOSTORIA. IJ^ 

His kingdom introduced, incarnate King! 

To conquer and indemnify all loss, 
Till earth shall blossom in eternal spring. 

And to all mansions raise the wondrous Cross. 

A distant realm may be, where solar light 

In outer dai'kness fades, and disapj^ears. 
Beyond the region where far Neptune's flight 

Commingles an eternity of years, 
Beyond the gulf unlit by comet's fire — 

A path untraveled by the winged ray; 
Where undiscovered suns with ours conspire 

To tell the watches of eternal day. 
But lo! there is no place in angel's flight 

The Cross does not illume, beneath, above; 
Eternity it floods with moral light. 

And fills infinity with sacred love; 
The highway paves across the darkening void. 

Which gives to systems vast a boundary line; 
Destroys the works of sin, that earth destroyed, 

And virtue fortifies bv love divine. 



136 COSMOSTORIA. 

First to recover earth and rescue man, 

His body wrest from death, from sin his soul; 

Then with its light infinity to span 

In every part, and to conserve the whole. 

In nature's finished harp a missing chord 

Now mars the perfect music of the spheres, 
That sweetly rang when the omnific word 

Attuned the earth to univei'sal ears. 
This harmony to gain, by evil spent, 

And nature's moral melodies restring, 
On mission blest the Cross of Christ is sent. 

To make, with praise, the heavenly arches ring. 

Probation, bought for man with price of blood. 

Insures a virtuous test by moral strife; 
The Cross disdained, and calls of grace withstood, 

Prove souls unworth}' of eternal life. 
Through ample years earth's trial shall endure. 

Till grace shall rise supreme to nature's loss; 
And character confirmed shall bliss insure 

To faithful man, and glory to the Cross. 



COSMOSTORIA. 



137 



The trial lasts till dawn of judgment day, 

And Death, meanwhile, his ebon scepter holds; 

The human race lies pillowed in the cla}^, 

In dreamless sleep, beneath his pitchy folds. 

Humanity behold! like Rachel, weep — 
Refusing comfort in the land of tears — 

O'er earth, the tomb where all her children sleep, 
Till God shall touch Death's dull and listless ears. 

Beneath yon festive grove, where beauty smiles. 

And wooing words of love breathe on the air, 
Where grace and fashion lend their luring st3'les 

To win the heart, — behold! the dead are there! 
And where with weary feet the traveler goes — 

O'er land or sea, thro' waste or verdant charms, 
O'er glimmering tropic sands or arctic snows, — 

Earth hugs her children dead within her arms. 
Some late entombed, yet wet with parting tears, 

Just fairly reached the distant spirit-land. 
And some forgotten for a thousand years. 

Make willowed earth a mausoleum grand. 



1 38 COSMOSTORIA. 

Upon this gorgeous tomb, in fadeless hue, 

Eternal spring puts forth the promise-flower — 
Immortal pledge that, in the great review, 

The dead shall feel the resurrection power. 
Here, too, acacia grows in wealth of green. 

Unchanged by winter's snow or summer's sand; 
To faith assuring life beyond the screen. 

That hides from sight the undiscovered land. 

To live always, yea, shall the dead arise, 

And immortality hold sea and shore; 
Subdue the grave, invest both earth and skies, 

And Death consign to death forevermore. 

O witness natui'e's plea in balmy spring! 

When walls of snow are melted to the ground; 
The silent groves with merry voices ring. 

And dawn and dusk respond with echoing sound. 
See matchless bloom evolve from winter's brown. 

When vernal rays have broke the icy chains. 
And friendly clouds pour ample blessings down. 

And bathe from heavenly founts the smiling plains. 



COSMOSTORIA. 



139 



Here nature whispers "Immortality!" 

And sam23les beauteous robes, the blest shall have; 
Proclaims in breath perfumed what they shall be, 

In the bright summer-land beyond the grave. 

Ten thousand angels fly, ten thousand more 

Illume the early morn with heavenly light; 
From distant pole to pole, from shore to shore. 

They throng the earth to hail the wondrous sight. 
To earth delightful calm! a dawn serene! 

When holy charms that mansions fair adorn. 
Descending, cluster on the glowing scene. 

And wrap in purple robes the rising morn. 
A holy tremor thrills the Father's throne. 

As Death lies dying in eternal gloom. 
And ceaseless fires irradiate the stone. 

Transferred as from the temple to the tomb. 
Lo! the black seals that closed the grave are broke; 

The tomb is emptied by eternal power; 
The monarch Death lies smitten by the stroke. 

And God's eternal Son has won the hour. 



I^;0 COSMOSTORIA. 

On all the dead He breathes immortal breath, 
And plucks eternal gain from transient loss; 

The scepter seizes from the hand of Death, 
And shivers it to waste upon the Cross. 

The dead turn over in their prison clay, 

And clank their frosty fetters to be free; 
Some breaking through to greet the welcome day. 

And with the living shout the jubilee. 
Death's iron door forever stands ajar; 

The massive key hangs at the Conqueror's side; 
The news on comet wings has flown afar, 

And swells and fills the heavenly palace wide. 

Humanity ascends on angel wing, 

And back to heaven bears love's golden chain. 
The minstrelsy divine the triumph sing — 

Immortal j^ledge that man shall live again. 
See vanquished Death in agony expire, 

As wronged accusers throng his cruel path; 
Now left to be cremated in the fire 

Consuming earth in the great day of wrath. 



COSMOSTORIA. 



141 



Life, lost by sin, is by the risen Son 

Restored to light and immortality : 
Wound up, through all eternity to run — 

Himself the living spring, His Cross the key. 

Triumphant host! All hail, angelic band! 

Review in song the scenes of Calvary! 
Through amber sky your snowy wings expand, 

Tipped with the blood from sad Gethsemane! 

The hour is come; behold the dead arise! 

From coral bed beneath the ocean wave, 
From pyramid and plain, they throng the skies — 

From marble shaft and the forgotten grave. 
Illustrious infant host, the flower and pride 

Of all the risen throngs, the Lord's delight: 
Blest reason why two-thirds in childhood died, 

To take the highest rank in mansions bright; 
A vacancy to fill, none e'er essayed 

Throvigh favor or reward to occupy; 
To show the beautiful as born, not made, 

And with its charms the Father's House supply. 



143 COSMOSTORIA. 

Childhood, immortalized through death, is given 

A fleeting sweetness life could never hold: 
It must be born and sent as such to heaven, 

A jewel not obtained from other mold. 
Some flowers bloom upon the morning's breath, 

And must be gathered then, or ever lost: 
So childhood has been seized, through ruthless death, 

To save its sweetness from life's blighting frost. 

Humanity, the Lamb's untarnished Bride, 

Now dons immortal garb for blissful march, 
The everlasting doors to open wide. 

And pass beneath the grand triumphal arch. 
Her jeweled presence charms the sons of light; 

Her glory fills the mansions of the blest; 
Secure from harm, she dwells of gracious right. 

In bliss supreme, upon the Bridegroom's breast. 
The crystal streams of life her raptures lave. 

And songs of triumph through the mansions ring. 
Where now thy victor}-, O cruel grave? 

And where, O monarch Death, thy dreaded sting? 



■JParf ^lipfppnfl 



ANALYSIS. 

'"^hnddering Nature at the Approach of the Last Day — Doom 
Announced — Earth Burned up the Second Time, as the Rcsidt of 
Human Sin — Earth Created anezu is thus a Bright Mansion in 
the Fat her'' s House — Guiding Seraph Implored to Conduct the 
Spirit from the Martian back to the Earthly Mansion — Six Hours' 
Flight — The Author'' s Sleep, Ascent to Mars and Return to Earth, 
Represent the Christian''s Death — His Spirit's Abode in some 
Heavenly Mansion, and Return to Behold, and Dzvell in, a '■'■Ne-w 
Heavens and a new Earth Wherein Dzvellcth Riirhteousness." 




PART THIRTEENTH. 



THE iron tongue of time grows stiff and still; 
Earth's busy sons all enterprise suspend; 
Forebodings dark the vaults of nature fill, 

As dying earth arranges for the end. 
Unfinished work, by human hands begun, 

Like Archimedes' problem incomplete, 
Is left abandoned by the latest sun. 

Forever doomed to darkness and defeat. 
An awful calm through earth and sky pervades, 

And nature's blushing cheek turns jDale with fear; 
Expectant doom the shivering landscape lades. 

And, rife with fotal wrath, surrounds the sphere. 
Now wave-like lurid shades, with chill des^Dair, 

Pass vividly like clouds beneath the sun, 

ID 



146 COSMOSTORIA. 

As myriad angels swarm the distant air, 

And to and fro the radiant pathway run. 
The sun, eclipsed, appoints to earth a shroud 

As black as Erebus, a ray less gloom; 
The thunder hurtles in the angry cloud, 

To advertise the near impending doom. 
Trophonian reefs the strengthless mountains chr,kc, 

And muffled earthcpiakes groan from pole to pole: 
A deadly chill runs through the dismal smoke. 

And wildly mocks the anguish-stricken whole. 

Loud blasts of angel trumps, a deafening sound, 
Break thro' the sky and thro' the darkness roar, 

To toll the knell of earth afar and 'round. 

And swear in wrath that time shall be no more. 

Vesuvius belches forth a fiery stream. 

And Cotopaxi lifts a shaft on high. 
The leaping lightnings through the midnight gleam, 

And mingling native flames, illume the sky. 
Resplendent meteors cross the heated air. 

And shoot and sparkle through the stormy doom; 



COSMOSTORIA. I47 

Touch off the latent stores of keen despair, 
And disappear beyond the depths of gloom. 

To earthquake shock the thunder peal replies, 

And cloud and flame in wild confusion roll; 
The heavens of air, forsaking native skies, 

Depart, like as a dark and fiery scroll. 
The elements dissolve w^ith fervent heat. 

And Alps and Andes sink to molten seas; 
Spitzbergen's snows and frosts from Shetland meet, 

And scalding torrents pour upon the leas. 

W'ow classic cities, lost, to sight appear. 

And feed with fossil wealth the burning void; 
While those familiar jolunge the molten sphere. 

And cast their art and store to earth destroyed, 
Sahara's barren plains, and fertile Nile, 

By earthquake raised, in liquid ruins fall. 
As gems unmined on hidden diamonds pile, 

Or skim on vortex wing the fluid ball. 



148 COSMOSTORIA. 

From distant mansions, lo! the heavenly throng 

Peer forth to see the world again on fire; 
The fragrant groves of hliss resound with song. 

As angels strike anew the golden lyre. 
Earth twice destroyed — at first when Satan fell, 

And now for human sni burned up again, 
The moral leprosy consigned to hell, 

As angel hosts proclaim the loud amen! 

Omnipotence proclaims, Behold I make 

All things in heaven and earth calcined, anew! 
Then heavenly charms from blackened ruins Vv'ake^ 

And all the land with lavish beauty strew. 
Hail, lovely earth, where righteousness abides. 

Reclaimed from sin by everlasting love — 
A mansion where the Prince of Life presides, 

As in the Father's House, like those above! 
Her plains impurpled with celestial bloom, 

Her groves resounding with the sweetest song, 
And gleaming wings bathe in the rich perfumCj 

Anc? fan the breezes as they pass along. 



COSMOSTORIA. I49 

No more shall death invade this happy land, 

Nor Sin and Satan ruin and dismay, 
NFor sorrow's tears bedew the glittering strand; 

For all the former things have passed away. 
Life's crystal stream imparts immortal youth, 

While cycles roll and heavenly summers last, 
And now in bliss confirms the sacred truth 

The Cross revealed, through trial ages past. 
In smiling blue, across the concave w^ide. 

Like emerald, expands the ceaseless bow, 
In peace as sweet as Sabbath eventide 

In Christian homes when summer sun is low. 
The sun abides in high eternal noon, 

The violet weaves and builds the forest height; 
And brightness fills the ever-present moon; 

For God is here, the everlasting light. 

The sinless universe of stars and suns, 

And systems lost in dejDths of boundless space, 

Is blissful heaven, where life's fountain runs, 
And laves the Father's House in its embrace. 



I50 



COSMOSTORIA, 



As long as ages fill eternity, 

Or heirs of bliss in heavenly pastimes roam, 
Earth, made anew, is thus prepared to be 

A mansion in the Christian's heavenly home. 

O seraph guide, conduct me back to earth! 

Leave this red air of Mars, and distant soar! 
O let me view the land that gave me birth. 

And wander o'er my childhood's scenes once more. 
What precious memories engage my breast, 

While passing through the dazzling gates of light! 
What raptures fill the regions of the blest. 

And line with flower and song the wondrous height! 
Admitted now through earth's ethereal blue, 

O what a mighty change my eyes behold! 
New splendors gild the rich, enchanting view, 

Like burning rays upon a sea of gold. 
Six holy hours of viewless angel flight 

Divide the nearest mansions in the skies. 
For so the angel came to Daniel's sight 

In that sweet hour when evening prayers arise. 



COSMOSTORIA. J^I 

So spirits from probationary earth 

Ascend to other mansions and await — 

Some at advanced old age, and some at birth — 
Till God shall speak and all things new create. 

Here I awoke to find my peaceful sleep, 

So calm and sweet, was death in Jesus' name; 
First fruits of creatures blest who never weep. 

My triumph sang, for they had felt the same. 
In the Great Father's House may I abide. 

And ever through its shining mansions roam, 
To drink the fount of life at Jesus' side. 

And share the honors of the Christian's home. 
Hail blest abode! bright land of flowers and song! 

All hail sweet home, through everlasting days! 
O Son of God, through endless ages long 

May this my portion be, and Thine the praise! 






'''m 



,-'*^., 



.: <*/ 1 



bR fi F g RF 



015 762 779 A 



*■* 





